Anglesey Council has secured the support of one of north Wales’ most beloved football managers in heightening awareness of measures to stop Coronavirus in its tracks.

Arthur Picton, portrayed by John Pierce Jones, is one one of the nation’s most famous TV characters thanks to his exploits on the touchline as the manager of the fictional Bryncoch United on C’mon Midffild.

The Welsh sitcom, which ran on S4C between 1988 and 1994, remains popular to this day and continues to be repeated – widely regarded as one of the most successful comedy series’ ever broadcast on S4C.

But as Anglesey – and the rest of Wales – faces its own battle against the spread of Covid-19, the local authority has enlisted the help of the Newborough-born actor for a video which has already gained over 15,000 views on Facebook alone during its first 24 hours online.

In the clip – with more than a touch of his trademark humour thrown in – Mr Picton urges north Wales to maintain their distance and to remain home for as much as possible to contain the spread of the virus.

However, the famous manager is only the latest in a line of familiar faces who gave up their time to help the council to push this all-important message, with other videos featuring Kev Bach from Capital Cymru, Owain Llyr of Môn FM and Commonwealth Games gold medal winner and Holyhead-based weightlifting coach, Ray Williams.

The council leader, Llinos Medi, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “As we all know, communication is key in helping us deal with Covid, so it’s vital that people hear and are able to relate with the message.

“We’ve been thinking of local figures and people from different backgrounds, both in Welsh and English, to help boost that message.

“With the Arthur Picton there’s an element of putting smiles on people’s faces during this difficult time, and I think we all need that.”

The latest 7 day rolling figure between October 6-12 show Anglesey as having the lowest infection rate in north Wales, standing at 67.1 cases per 100,000 – but still above the 50 figure which the Welsh Government has used to potentially trigger localised restrictions.

On the current situation facing the island in terms of the virus, she added: “We are continuing to monitor the infection figures and are in constant dialogue with the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales.

“The most important thing we can do is to conform and stick to the rules or we  could be in and out of restrictions for some time.

“If ever it was the case that the future is in our hands, then it’s certainly is the case right now.”

View the video at https://twitter.com/angleseycouncil/status/1316705882470715393