Happy Valley Series 3: creator Sally Wainwright reveals she has 'ideas' for the show's return

The writer gave the best indication yet that the hit drama will be making a comeback

Hopefully we'll see Sarah Lancashire back on patrol as Sergeant Catherine Cawood soon

BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall

25 August 2016

Get ready folks: it looks like we will be heading back to Happy Valley after all.

Five months after the end of the last run, creator Sally Wainwright has offered the best indication yet that a third series is in the works.

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV festival, Wainwright told former Doctor Who boss Russell T Davies that she has ‘ideas’ for more stories.

"It will happen but it will be a little while,” she said. “I have got some good ideas.”

Wainwright did not immediately confirm more episodes of the smash BBC drama when Series 2 concluded back in March, due to her commitment to other projects.

The dark Northern-set crime thriller, starring Sarah Lancashire and James Norton, has been a big hit for the BBC, taking home the BAFTA for Best Drama Series as well as earning writing nods for Wainwright.

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While word on a third series is great news for Valley fans, it remains to be seen whether Lancashire will return as Sgt. Catherine Cawood.

Earlier in the year, she suggested that she didn’t want the show to return at all.

“I wouldn’t want it to go to a third series,” she said. “We set out to tell a story and we have told it.”

Before she starts on Series 3, Wainwright is changing tack and working on a TV musical – but don’t expect Sgt. Cawood to burst into song when Happy Valley eventually returns.

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Happy Valley Series 3: creator Sally Wainwright reveals she has 'ideas' for the show's return

Best TV dramas 2016

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