Happy Valley shifts producers

Captivating UK drama Happy Valley is switching producers for a planned third season, which at least indicates some progress, given there has been little word on new episodes.

But it will still be some time off. The series last aired in 2016.

In-demand writer Sally Wainwright says scripts will only begin once she has completed the second series of Gentleman Jack.

“Since I’ve started directing, I wonder [when I’m writing] whether a scene is directable or actable,” she said this week.

“I do think very visually, particularly around [the opening scenes]. When you introduce a major new character, you have to say something very big, and that’s why I wanted to direct. I see it in my head very clearly – it’s all there,” she said.

But the work on Gentleman Jack, which tells the story of 19th-century British landowner and businesswoman Anne Lister, remains “the hardest thing” she has ever done.

“I can write an episode of Happy Valley or Last Tango In Halifax in four weeks,” she confirmed. Gentleman Jack requires at least two months per episode.

A third season of Happy Valley will shift from producers Red to Lookout Point, which produced Les Miserables.

Wainwright is also keen to get a project off the ground about British pilot Amy Johnson, the first aviatrix to fly solo from England to Australia in 1930.

Source: TBI Vision