If there's one person who's completely changed since the last series of Sally Wainwright's Happy Valley it's young actor Rhys Connah who plays Catherine Cawood's (Sarah Lancashire) grandson, Ryan and the son of criminal Tommy Lee Royce. And now the actor has spoken out about the role and the seven-year wait since series two.
Creator, Wainwright, took so long to write a third series because they were waiting for Rhys, who was eight years old when he filmed the first series which came out in 2014. It was 2016 we saw the second series and then for the best part of a decade - nothing.
Rhys, who blew fans away with his acting as Ryan in the most recent episode, told the BBC recently: "I was told at some point, I honestly can't remember when, that she was waiting for us to grow up a bit. But I didn't know to what extent I'd be growing up. I didn't know if I'd be waiting until I was 14/15 or until I was 25 or something. Then I got a call: 'It's happening.'"
Read more: BBC Happy Valley: The 7 questions we need answering ahead of series' final episode
When he first bagged the role of Ryan a decade ago, he thought he was going to be in a kids' show. "I overheard my mum speaking once to one of her friends," he revealed.
"She was like, 'We got this script and it's called Happy Valley and I thought, this is going to be a really nice kids' show. Then I opened the script and I started reading and I thought - this is not a kids' show!'"
The teen, who was 16 when he filmed the concluding episodes last year, also explained how different filming the final series was compared with the first two.
"I'm not a child actor so I actually have to understand it. When I got the script, I did spend quite a lot of time trying to figure out why he does it," Connah said.
"Me personally, as Rhys, I don't agree with the decision - but when I'm playing Ryan, I have to agree with it. So I need to find a way in which I could convince myself why you would go."
The sixth episode in the third and final series of Happy Valley will air on BBC One on Sunday, February 5. It will run for 68 minutes, giving fans almost 10 minutes of extra drama.
According to the TV guides the Happy Valley final will run from 9pm to 10:10pm. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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