During my internship at Media Cymru, I had the opportunity to join fellow Creative Cardiff interns - Katie, Eleanor, and Sophie - for an exclusive tour of BBC Cymru Wales in Cardiff's Central Square. As a Cardiff University JOMEC student, I walk past the BBC building nearly every day on my way to lectures, often curious about what goes on inside. Thanks to this experience, now I know!
On arrival, we were greeted by our wonderful (and humorous) tour guide, Abi, who provided lots of valuable information about pursuing a career at the BBC, which I found extremely helpful as a student beginning to consider post-graduate options. Abi’s advice was certainly my key takeaway from the tour: she discussed the relevant entry-level roles for each department and advised us to check out the BBC Talent website, which features a range of development opportunities.
We visited the Dylan Thomas Radio Drama Studio, which is primarily used for network and national drama productions. We were invited to play around with the equipment, trying on headphones and taking photos. I learned they use digital sound effects for audio drama, rather than in-studio, as it allows for a more vivid soundscape, which I found fascinating.
Visiting the radio studio was my favourite part of the tour. Here, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, alongside national programmes such as Owain Wyn Evans for BBC Radio 2, are broadcast live. One of my many dream career paths as a child was becoming a BBC Radio 1 presenter like Nick Grimshaw, so being able to visit a BBC radio studio was surreal!
We were able to step into the news studio, where BBC Wales Today is presented, and quickly learned the inner workings of the studio. To our surprise, lots of the set features we see on TV don’t physically exist! It was super interesting to see where set props are digitally put in using clever technology. We were able to put our weather presenting skills to the test, and even pretend to present at the news desk.
At the end of the tour, we were lucky enough to be shown a collection of Doctor Who costumes from over the years, which Eleanor really enjoyed! Although I’ve never seen Doctor Who, it was definitely interesting to see the props used in such an influential programme.
Here’s what the other interns and some of the Centre for the Creative Economy team had to share:
Katie Bowen, MA Creative and Cultural Industries and Creative Cardiff Intern said:
Getting an intimate and behind-the-scenes look at what goes into producing the content I consume every day was so surreal and exciting!
Being inside the BBC and having the opportunity to try presenting the news and explore radio production was so inspiring. It made my future career in media feel so much more real!
Jessica Raby, Digital Communications Officer at Media Cymru, said:
Welcoming interns as part of the Cardiff University on-campus internship scheme has been a wonderful experience. Being able to offer the students a visit BBC Cymru Wales was a great addition to the placement.
BBC Cymru Wales is a Media consortium partner and Maya has worked on BBC content for Media Cymru’s latest innovation campaign. A big diolch yn fawr to Abi and the BBC for offering these tours, providing an insight to what goes on behind-the-scenes and sparking conversations about the media sector and opportunities available to students and graduates.
Carys Bradley-Roberts, Creative Cardiff Manager, said:
BBC Cymru Wales has played an integral part in Creative Cardiff's 10 year history, being there since the very beginning as one of our founding partners. 10 years on, the innovative Central Square space has now opened its doors, and it was a pleasure to join our wonderful interns for a tour of the space.
Brilliantly facilitated by Abi, we were led around sophisticated studio spaces, busy newsrooms and even a Doctor Who exhibition. Diolch o galon am y croeso cynnes, as you can tell by the pictures, we all thoroughly enjoyed!
Are you interested in stepping inside the doors of BBC Cymru Wales at Central Square, Cardiff? BBC offer behind-the-scenes tours to the public and have been awarded the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Award 2025 for the third year in a row!