Happy Valley, the Yorkshire-set crime drama created by Sally Wainwright and starring Sarah Lancashire, was one of last year’s surprise hits, attracting 7.8 million viewers for its final episode and topping a number of end-of-year best-of lists, including our own.
Now anticipation can build for the show’s return: the full cast for series two has been announced by the BBC, and contains a host of familiar names.
Among those returning to the drama are Lancashire, as police sergeant Catherine Cawood, James Norton as psychopathic killer Tommy Lee Royce and Charlie Murphy as Ann Gallagher, the woman abducted by Lee Royce in the show’s first series.
Joining the cast meanwhile are former Coronation Street stars Julie Hesmondhalgh and Katherine Kelly, Harry Potter alumna Shirley Henderson and Matthew Lewis, Cucumber actors Vincent Franklin and Con O’Neill, Downton Abbey actor Kevin Doyle and Amelia Bullmore, who is reunited here with her Scott and Bailey writer Wainwright.
Some plot details have also been revealed. Series two will feature Catherine (Sarah Lancashire), trying to track down a serial killer and in the process making a gruesome discovery that will have repercussions for her and her family. Meanwhile in prison, series one villain Tommy (James Norton) will form a bond with a mysterious female admirer (Henderson).
Happy Valley’s first series became an immediate hit when it aired in May 2014, attracting 7 million viewers for its opening episode. The show went on to win a string of awards, including the Bafta television award for best drama series.
Yet, while widely acclaimed, the show did receive criticism for what some felt were excessive levels of violence. In one episode viewers witnessed a gruelling scene in which Catherine was brutally beaten by Tommy, while another scene saw one character run over repeatedly with a car.
Speaking to the Observer about the criticism, Wainwright defended the show’s portrayal of violence. “If you get your head smacked against the wall, you bleed. It’s life,” said Wainwright. “Drama is about the dark side. How bad things happen to good people.
“If violence on screen was so regular and people barely noticed it, that would be gratuitous”, she added.
Wainwright is likely to add a little more levity to Happy Valley’s second season. In an interview with Mark Lawson in December she revealed that she wanted the show’s first series to be funnier. “I always planned to alternate really dark scenes with comic ones and, in Happy Valley 2, I’d like to get that balance better,” Wainwright said.
.jpg?w=600)
