The Duchess of Cornwall has told the BBC’s Crimewatch team she is an “avid viewer” of the show during a tour of the corporation’s new Welsh headquarters.
Camilla said she is gripped by the programme, which appeals to the public to help detectives solve cases, and the Prince of Wales snapped a clapper board shut to launch public tours at BBC Cymru Wales’ Central Square building in Cardiff.
During the visit, which launched the couple’s annual week-long tour of Wales, Charles talked to weather presenter Derek Brockway and spoke of his frustration at the lack of time devoted to the climate change crisis.
“It’s about time some mention was made why it’s so critical,” the BBC news website reported the prince as saying.
The duchess sat with Crimewatch presenters Rav Wilding and Michelle Ackerley and said she was “an avid viewer, I love Crimewatch” and added she was “amazed” at the number of crimes viewers provide information about.
She questioned the hosts, who were joined by some of the Crimewatch team, asking “how on earth do you pick the crimes, so to speak?” and Wilding replied “We’re in a lucky position, we have lots of officers who come to us.
“They don’t ever try and threaten you?” the duchess asked, and Wilding said: “I’ve had a few things unfortunately, I’ve done this for 18 years now so it’s a long time, and I can say the good massively outweighs the bad.”
Camilla asked when the next series, which will be filmed in Cardiff, was being aired and at what time, and when told October at 10pm, said she would be watching and told the team: “You’re making lives better.”
BBC staff began working from the £100 million Central Square building in July 2020 and it is home to the corporation’s Wales news output, in Welsh and English, BBC Wales Sport and is part of a major redevelopment around Cardiff Central station.
While the duchess was taken on a separate tour of the building Charles met members of BBC Wales Today and the corporation’s sports team gearing up for the appearance of Wales’ national team at the football World Cup later this year.
The couple were joined by senior executives from the BBC, including the BBC’s director general Tim Davie.
Charles joked with Lucy Owen, a presenter on the news show BBC Wales Today, about how the cameras were remotely operated.
The broadcaster said: “They’re like Daleks. When they go on the move they have been known to go rogue once or twice.”
During his visit Charles recorded an extract from Dylan Thomas’ radio play Under Milk Wood, in a studio named after the Welsh poet, with actors Owen Teale and Alexandra Riley, for BBC Wales’ social media channels.
Charles and Camilla later walked a few metres to view the statue of Betty Campbell, the first black woman to become a headteacher in Wales and a champion of diversity and equality.
The prince met the education pioneer at her school in 1994 and sent a message of support for the unveiling last September of the monument that recognises the legacy of the headteacher of Mount Stuart Primary in Butetown, Cardiff, who put black culture on her school’s curriculum.
He said about Ms Campbell, who died in 2017, aged 82: “In succeeding against the odds, she became an inspiration to generations of people, of all ages, and all backgrounds, not just in her own beloved city, but in the rest of Wales and beyond.”
The royal couple chatted to her three sons and her daughter, Elaine Clare, 68, who described the statue as “amazing”.
She added: “We’re just so proud of the statue. There’s determination on her face and it’s very powerful the way it’s been done. It’s such a unique statue.”
