Having warmed up her cop drama muscles with Scott & Bailey, Wainwright constructed a masterful thriller, full of electric confrontations, quiet heartbreak and delicious dialogue.
A western epic, relocated to present-day Halifax. Over three series – broadcast across nine years, enabling the pivotal figure of young Ryan to grow up – writer Sally Wainwright’s indelible characters and vividly realised Calder Valley community seared their way into the national imagination. Battle-scarred lioness Sgt Catherine Cawood (a towering turn from Sarah Lancashire) pursues her nemesis, local psycho Tommy Lee Royce ( James Norton), in and out of prison, up hill and down dale. Having warmed up her cop drama muscles with Scott & Bailey, Wainwright constructed a masterful thriller, full of electric confrontations, quiet heartbreak and delicious dialogue. Read our Happy Valley review