Airdate: Happy Valley

Acclaimed UK drama Happy Valley will air on ABC next month.

The crime thriller stars Sarah Lancashire as a hard-working, dedicated police woman in Yorkshire.

The series, written by Sally Wainwright (Last Tango in Halifax, Scott and Bailey), was not without some controversy over its level of violence, but has been renewed for a second season.

Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is a police sergeant in a beautiful small town full of drunks and drug addicts and where teenage pregnancies are a way of life.

Her world is turned upside down when the man she believes is responsible for her daughter’s death – Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) – is released from prison. She is convinced Tommy is dangerous and it’s only a matter of time before he hurts someone else…

Meanwhile the quiet middle-class accountant Kevin Weatherill (Steve Pemberton) feels unappreciated and underpaid at work. Desperate to give his daughters a decent education, he asks his wealthy boss Nevison (George Costigan) for a pay rise so he can send them to private school.

When Nevison refuses, something finally snaps inside Kevin and the opportunity arises where he enlists the help of local criminal Ashley Cowgill (Joe Armstrong) to kidnap his boss’ daughter Ann (Charlie Murphy) and hold her for ransom. But things quickly spiral out of control when Ashley involves the unpredictable Tommy in the plan.

As the police search for the missing girl intensifies, Catherine’s obsession with Tommy reaches breaking point and Kevin starts to lose his grip and nerve. How far will any of them go to get what they really want?

Friday 17 October at 8.30pm ABC.