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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Sam Cook

Happy Valley season three start date confirmed after six-year wait

The BBC has confirmed when the third series of Happy Valley will air. The popular drama series, which was written and created by Sally Wainwright, last hit our screens in 2016.

Happy Valley's new series will continue the story of Catherine Cawood, a strong willed police officer from West Yorkshire, played by Sarah Lancashire. The third run will see Catherine discovering the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, sparking a chain of events that unwittingly leads her straight back to Tommy Lee Royce (played by James Norton).

All the cast regulars are returning for the third series. But when can viewers expect to watch it? Read on for all the answers.

Read more: When does Happy Valley return for series 3? Here's everything we know

A short teaser from the BBC has confirmed that Happy Valley will return on Sunday, January 1 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Series Three carries on a story that first began in 2014. The first series saw Catherine coming to terms with the suicide of her teenage daughter, whom had been previously been raped by series villain, Tommy Lee Royce. The second series, meanwhile, took place eighteen months after the first and saw Catherine implicated in the murder of Tommy's mother.

As to why the series has taken so long to return, writer Sally Wainwright told RadioTimes : "Everyone's back – all the characters you'd expect to see are back. We're seven years on. The plan was to wait for Ryan to be older so that he can make his own choices about whether he wants to have contact with his dad or not. So it really explores that." For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.

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