Sally Wainwright’s gruelling, gripping drama Happy Valley is set to return for a third and final series, the BBC has confirmed.
Filming for the concluding chapter of the Bafta-winning series will begin in 2022, with Sarah Lancashire ready to reprise her role as Sergeant Catherine Cawood, the straight-talking Yorkshire police officer reckoning with the fallout from her daughter’s suicide.
James Norton will also return as Catherine’s nemesis Tommy Lee Royce, joined again by Siobhan Finneran as Clare, Catherine’s sister.
Comprising six episodes, the third season sees Catherine, now on the cusp of retirement, discovering the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, drawing her into a case that will lead her back to Royce.
Meanwhile her grandson Ryan is now a teenager, with his own ideas about forging a relationship with Royce, his father.
The first series of Happy Valley aired on BBC One in 2014, with the second instalment following in 2016. Both seasons won the Bafta TV Award for Best Drama, with Lancashire and Wainwright also receiving Baftas for Best Leading Actress and Best Writer (Drama) respectively in 2017.
A hit with audiences and critics alike, series two drew in an average audience of 9.3 million viewers.
Wainwright, who recently wrapped filming on the second series of her BBC period drama Gentleman Jack, previously revealed that she always intended for there to be an extended break between series two and three of Happy Valley, so as to allow Ryan (Rhys Connah) “to grow up, so he’s more of a teenager than a child.”
