TV CAMERAS will follow the trials and tribulations of a Minffordd vet in a new series.

Alex Smith has already travelled a long way in his work as a vet.

Currently the 33-year-old is working for the Wern veterinary practice in Ruthin, but he has lived and worked in New Zealand and South Africa. Alex is one of the vets starring in the second series of Bywyd y Fet on S4C.

Born and bred in Minffordd, near Porthmadog, Alex had never considered becoming a vet, “It was a happy accident” he explains.

“I had hoped to follow a career as a doctor, but when, as a school pupil, I enquired about work experience in a hospital, I was told I was too young. Somebody suggested that I did my work experience with the local vet, and that’s what I did.”

The balance between academic and clinical work made being a vet the perfect calling for Alex. After studying in Bristol, he moved to Llandysul and had the opportunity to work with all kinds of animals – big and small.

“I was thrown into the work and I loved every second of it – even the midnight call-outs!” he fondly remembers.

“After three years in Llandysul, I decided to go travelling to New Zealand for six months... and, somehow, six months turned into five years!”

Alex took every opportunity whilst working as a vet in New Zealand, too, seeing much of the country and he enjoyed a different pace of life.

Eventually homesickness kicked in and Alex decided to move back to Wales last year, and he was offered a job with Wern Vets in Ruthin.

Bywyd y Fet screens on Monday, 20 March at 8.25pm.

Read the full story in this week’s Cambrian News