This tweet from Holdsworth House (the hotel in Last Tango in Halifax) caught my eye.
Sally Wainwright’s Happy Valley showcases Yorkshire: Picture: The IndependentFollowing the utterly brilliant L… http://t.co/Dq20lT3ZrF
— Holdsworth House (@HoldsworthHotel) April 30, 2014
The link led to to an article about a new 6 part series from writer Sally Wainwright featuring Sarah Lancashire as a Yorkshire police officer, Happy Valley.
Sally Wainwright and Sarah Lancashire together again! Some days, I long to be a Brit where BBC One is available to me, because nothing I could ask for in terms of storytelling sounds better than this.
PBS better grab this one and bring it to American audiences! (ADDENDUM 8/20/2014: Netflix acquired Happy Valley and series 1 is currently available for streaming from that source.)
Here’s how the story begins. Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is a cop. She’s raising her grandson because her daughter committed suicide shortly after the boy’s birth. The child was the result of a rape. The man Catherine is sure is the rapist has just been released from jail. He is Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton).
A disgruntled accountant named Kevin Weatherill (Steve Pemberton) has arranged for some drug dealers, Tommy Lee Royce among them, to kidnap his boss’s daughter. Catherine works the case.
In describing the story, Sarah Lancashire said,
. . . the story isn’t really about Catherine’s job as a police officer but Catherine trying to find a way to come to peace with herself.
Euros Lyn, who directed episodes of Last Tango in Halifax directs several episodes, and Sally Wainwright takes a turn as a director in one episode. The series started on BBC One on April 29, 2014. If it does come to PBS in the U.S. I’m sure it will be months, but I’m certainly hoping it will make it.
You can learn more and read several interviews at the Happy Valley site from the BBC.
All images @BBC or @Red Production Company