A single mum from Carmarthenshire who trained to be a priest will star in a new television series.

Alex Grace, now assistant curate in Tenby, was one of a number of trainee priests who were followed around for a year by cameras at St. Michael's College, Cardiff. Her journey will be featured in Vicar Academy on BBC1 Wales starting on Monday, October 15.

Made by an independent company, Presentable, Vicar Academy shadowed several full-time students, ('ordinands') from St. Michael's College - Wales' only theological college - who came from all corners of the country.

The cameras followed them into prisons to help offenders, to schools to lead assemblies, to hospitals to visit sick and dying people, on the streets to feed the homeless and to the seat of government to campaign. The documentary captures the challenging but richly varied life those called to ministry can expect today.

Alex, 41, who grew up in Penbre and was sent to train from the Cynwyl Elfed group of churches north of Carmarthen, is shown during her third and last year at the college. The cameras followed her preparing for her ordination in the summer at St. Davids Cathedral, being ordained and settling with her two children, Elizabeth, 11, and Hannah, 9, in her very first parish in Tenby.

Alex said: "The cameras were there on the first day of my last year at St. Michael's, and my last day there too; they were with me when I received my letter from Bishop Wyn, telling me that he would like me to serve my curacy in Tenby, and when I told my daughters, later that day, about where our new home would be; they were there with me on the day of my ordination, and finally they were there when I preached in my new parish and then as I baptised two babies. In a place of formation and huge personal change, those cameras followed some of my most formative and precious moments, and I look forward - albeit with some degree of trepidation - to seeing the results of those hours of filming. I hope that it was worth it, that I really was able to 'be myself', and most of all I hope that in some way, somehow, it is to God's glory."

The series producer, Ian Durham, said: "We wanted to explore and understand the changes and challenges facing the Church in Wales through the eyes of the St. Michael's Ordinands who are its future.

"Through their individual and shared journeys we hope that the programmes will reveal not only the human face of the Church in Wales, but also show the Church as an institution to be an accessible and relevant entity with a -sometimes unexpected - core role in contemporary Welsh life.

"The overall hope is to move away from still commonly held public perception that opening fetes, drinking tea and eating cake are the primary roles for which those who are called to Ministry should be trained. Instead, we aim to truly reflect the varied, complex and impactful roles the ordinands, chaplains and clergy have to play in day to day Welsh life and culture, at a time when the Church in Wales itself is undergoing dramatic changes and challenges."

The Principal of St. Michael's College, Rev. Canon Peter Sedgwick, said he hoped the programme would inspire others to a life in church ministry.

"As this programme clearly shows, being a Christian minister is a demanding role and one which is changing fast," he stated. "A pastor needs to be alongside people in the midst of life's crises and celebrations. But they must also be community leaders, preachers and teachers - they are the public face of the church.

"I hope this programme will give viewers a more up-to-date impression of what today's church is all about and perhaps inspire them to get involved in any way in which they feel called. I'm also very grateful to the students who took part as it's not easy being the subject of a film at such a crucial time in your life."

• Vicar Academy starts October 15, 10.35 pm, BBC1 Wales.