Line of Duty's Vicky McClure and Welsh filmmaker fiancé on the 'wild response' to their Merthyr Town sponsorship

• Watch the video report by ITV Wales journalist Hannah Thomas

Line of Duty star Vicky McClure and her Welsh filmmaker fiancé Jonny Owen have said they have been blown away by the reaction to their sponsorship of Merthyr Town Football Club.

The club announced on Thursday that the celebrity duo would be sponsoring the team's shorts for the upcoming 2021/22 season.

At a virtual media event on Saturday morning, the couple said they could not have imagined the kind of positive reaction the news would receive.

"I'll be brutally honest we didn't expect this much coverage," Owen said.

"It's been fantastic and I think that's a testimony to the name Merthyr in football.

"It's got a great historic name and I've been really heartened by how many people think fondly of Merthyr, their great European exploits, the adventure against Atalanta and all those things.

"I've been really genuinely surprised in a lovely way at how much the name Merthyr carries in the game of football."

Owen was referring to a famous night in Merthyr Town's history, when, in 1987, the side overcame Italian giants Atalanta in the European Cup Winners' Cup.

McClure said the response to the sponsorship announcement may have taken her by surprise but the warm feeling towards Merthyr was something she expected.

"It's been a bit of a wild response," she said.

"It was purely just to do our bit for the club and the amount of responses that I've had from people on my social media, just the love for Merthyr.

"Which kind of didn't surprise me because that's what happened when I first went to Merthyr."

Merthyr Town play in the Southern League Premier South, the seventh tier of English football.

The name of McClure and Owen's production company, BYO Films, will feature on the club's shorts as part of the sponsorship deal.