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Wales Online
Wales Online
Entertainment
Robert Dalling

Game of Thrones star Iwan Rheon films in Swansea street transported back to 1994 for new drama Men Up

A Swansea street was transported back to the nineties with a world famous actor at work there. BBC crews were spotted shooting a new drama called Men Up - the story of a world first medical trial at Morriston Hospital in 1994 - which follows the lives of five men taking part.

Crews were spotted along Victoria Avenue, together with other areas of the city like Swansea promenade, with Game of Thrones actor Iwan Rheon - who played evil Ramsay Bolton in the show - filming scenes in the city's streets. For the Victoria Avenue scenes, the street was filled with cars from 1994.

Residents living there were sent letters informing them of the filming, with the Boom Cymru and Quay Street Productions project, described as "following the lives of five ordinary Welshmen as they go through an extraordinary journey through the trials and tribulations of the revolutionary program. A drama about masculinity, mental health, family, friendship and love." Get Swansea stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter.

READ MORE: Why you might see smoke and lots of 'emergency vehicles and personnel' in Port Talbot this week

An aerial picture from inside a house along the avenue showing filming taking place (Rob O'Shea)
Iwan Rheon, who played Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones (Rob O'Shea)

The trial was for Sildenafil, which was synthesized by a group of pharmaceutical chemists working at Pfizer’s research unit in England. It was initially studied for use in hypertension and angina pectoris. The first clinical trials were conducted in Morriston Hospital in 1994 in patients with angina pectoris.

Phase I clinical trials suggested the drug had little effect on angina, but it could induce marked penile erections. So Pfizer decided to terminate the research in the cardiovascular area and switched its goal to research into treating erectile dysfunction. The drug Viagra was, ultimately, born and the rest, as they say, is history.

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