Hollywood actor Luke Evans said filming just 25 minutes from his childhood home was “joyous” – and some family members even made a cameo in the final episode of his new drama.

The Pontypool-born star, who is also an executive producer of the five-part series, The Party, came up with the idea to adapt the acclaimed novel by Elizabeth Day into a drama for the screen.

For the first time in 30 years, Evans was able to film close to Aberbargoed, Caerphilly county, where he grew up, as the drama was shot in Cardiff and Bridgend.

The star of Beauty and the Beast, Immortals and The Hobbit had been used to being far from home while working on the stage and films.

In The Party, Evans, 47, stars as Martin Gilmour, a journalist shaped by his lifelong friendship with a wealthy and charismatic politician played by Aberystwyth-born Tom Cullen.

Speaking on BBC’s The One Show, he said that he had “shot in Wales” previously – when filming The Pembrokeshire Murders – but “never that close” to his family.

“Pembrokeshire is miles away from where my family are in the valleys,” he said.

“They were only 25 minutes from me up the road [this time].”

He joked: “They were there all the time.”

His parents Yvonne and David Evans still live in the same “narrow” terrace house he grew up in IN Aberbargoed in the Rhymney Valley.

He added: “We were having dinners on the weekend, walking the dog, enjoyed a rainy three, four months in Wales over the winter period.

“It was joyous. I loved it.”

Some family members even managed to get a short cameo in the final episode of the upcoming drama.

Evans said: “[My cousins] were like ‘can we be in the show?’

“They are, they’re in it. My cousin and his wife and their kids are in the final episode.”

After filming wrapped up, Evans headed back to New York where he starred as Dr Frank-N-Furter in the Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show.

“I did the show for seven months and I was coming to the end of the run – I had such an incredible experience doing the show,” he said.

“It was just the most wonderful, inclusive, joyous two hours of my day. It was wonderful. The audience were just loving it.”

Evans said that actor Tim Curry had been a part of his “whole journey”, and that he would have people on the stage door and messages “comparing me” to him, and “how proud he would be of the performance.”

Curry, who died in August, aged 80, first played the role on stage before the film version, which was released in 1975 and has remained a cult favourite.

Evans added: “So I had to send him a letter, even if he’ll never read it.

“I just felt like I had to say thank you because I really believe that if it wasn’t for Tim’s performances as Frank-N-Furter, I don’t think that film would still be around.

“He really kept that show, and the messages throughout the show are so prevalent and strong and important today as they were 53 years ago.”

He received a response from Curry’s team three weeks before his final performance, saying that he was “very appreciative” of that letter and thanked him for sending it.

“Sadly he passed the day after I finished,” Evans said.

Earlier this summer, Evans also got the honour of switching on the Empire State Building lights for pride in New York, in the US, adding: “It was a really special thing to be asked to do.”

Evans previously said that he knows “several actors” in Hollywood who have chosen not to be open about their sexuality.

He came out as gay early in his career and admitted it “wasn’t easy” being one of the few out stars for a long time.

Speaking about actors who choose to not reveal their sexuality, Evans said you “never know what a person has gone through”.

Asked if he thought a gay actor would ever be cast as James Bond, Evans said he was “on the list for Bond for a good decade.”

He takes this as a sign that it would not be a problem but that he is “too old” for the part now.

Evans began his career as a theatre actor and later appeared in films including Clash Of The Titans (2010) and the Fast & Furious franchise.

He will play the lead role in the upcoming ITV drama The Party premiering on 11 October.