Returning: Happy Valley
Sarah Lancashire returns as Yorkshire's Sgt. Catherine Cawood -now debuting on BBC First instead of ABC.
- Published by David Knox
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Season Two of Sally Wainwright’s gritty Happy Valley begins May 1st on BBC First.
After Season One debuted on ABC that’s likely to rankle many fans of the show, unfamiliar with the way programming rights work. It’s not expected to air on ABC in 2016.
The six part series sees the return of Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, James Norton and Charlie Murphy joined by Kevin Doyle, Amelia Bullmore and Shirley Henderson.
It aired in the UK in February.
As series two opens, we join Catherine (Sarah Lancashire), the altruistic and forthright police sergeant who is back heading up her team of dedicated police officers in The Calder Valley in West Yorkshire.
Tommy Lee Royce, the father of her grandchild and the man who nearly killed her, may be in prison, but he’s still very much in Catherine’s thoughts.
While on duty Catherine makes a gruesome discovery – a body. The victim’s injuries bear a striking similarity to a string of other murders over the previous few months, suggesting a serial killer is on the loose. But the case becomes even more shocking when it emerges that Catherine knows the victim – something that could have significant repercussions for both herself and her family.
Elsewhere, Detective John Wadsworth is struggling to put an end to an affair that is rapidly spiralling out of control and Tommy forms a bond with a mysterious female admirer despite being behind bars.
Sundays at 8.30pm from May 1 on BBC First.
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10 Responses
It is such a pity that Season Two of Happy Valley is not going to be aired on ABC. I loved Season One.
I love UK dramas – they are the best by far ! ! ! ! But I don’t have Pay Tv & don’t see myself getting it in the near future, so I am disappointed that it will not be aired on ABC Tv here.
It will probably come next year. BBC have done deals with Foxtel for exclusivity but after 12 months they become available, and ABC has certainly picked up some in the past.
These are two outstanding dramas and a terrible shame they can’t be seen first on ABC. I doubt the existence of BBC First is going to attract more subscribers to Foxtel but guess it is prepared to pay BBC Worldwide a premium to help keep the subscribers it has and give Foxtel some credibility in having premium drama shows. Perhaps with streaming channels there will be many people prepared to pay a premium to get this content and create more revenue for the BBC than the current Foxtel arrangement. Am I wrong on this?
Writing was on the wall the day BBC took a cheque from Nine for Top Gear after years on SBS.
The ABC used to have an output deal for all the BBC’s output @ $16m p.a. When it was up for renewal the ABC wouldn’t pay more so the BBC started selling what they could on the open market and signed an output deal with the ABC for what was left. The ABC only bought exclusive first run rights to Doctor Who, relying on the fact that the output deal would get them everything they wanted cheaply, because nobody else wanted to buy it. The ABC aired what they wanted and ignored a lot of the rest so that many BBC shows never aired in this country at all. So BBCWW bought UKTV and started airing stuff there, screening Eggheads and QI episodes in direct competition with ABC airings. The ABC ignored the warning sign and were caught by surprise when the BBC refused to negotiate a new output deal and launched BBCF on Foxtel’s drama package. HBO and BBCW have deals with Foxtel; Showtime didn’t…
Not sure any of this is factually correct in your timeline. BBC has owned UKTV for many years, they planned to launch BBC First as soon as the outputdeal with ABC expired. BBC First took ABC by surprise when announcing that the new channel would have 12 months exclusive access to new BBC Drama. This meant many shows like Call the midwife & Death in Paradise took more than a 12 month break from ABC.
They also have Jericho starting next Tuesday, another quality show
So on Sundays at 8:30, BBC First goes from The Night Manager to Happy Valley. Now that’s quality!
If they can complete a hat-trick in mid-June, I may just lock the channel into that timeslot for good.
Agree, that’s a good combo.
BBC First has tried to put premium dramas on at 8:30pm Sunday ever since they launched with The Politician’s Husband in the slot. At the moment the competition is celebrity current affairs on 7 & 9, older seasons of BBC dramas on ABC and OJ on Ten so it stands out.