We’re still reeling from Happy Valley final. After seven years and three series, creator Sally Wainwright concluded the drama perfectly with a showdown between Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) and Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire).
The success of the series – a whopping 7.5 million people tuned in for the final – has brought the brilliance of Wainright to the attention of millions of people. The writer and showrunner has been writing for British telvision for over 30 years, starting her career writing for Emmerdale in 1991.
Born in Huddersfield in 1963, Wainwright was brought up in Sowerby Bridge, one of the market towns situated between Halifax, Bradford, Hebden Bridge and Burnley. She always wanted to be a writer, reading English and Related Literature at York University. A talent from the off, she took a play to Edinburgh Fringe as a student where she was picked up by an agent. She began writing for The Archers shortly after graduating, before moving on to Coronation Street.
So for those who feel bereft of Wainwright’s fantastic dialogues and thrilling storylines now that Happy Valley is over, the writer has a fantastic backlog of series that she wrote which you can watch. They all spotlight her penmanship and most of them are set in Yorkshire, too. So from period dramas, to police thrillers, here’s our pick of the best Wainwright shows to get stuck into next.
Sparkhouse (2002)
Sowerby Bridge, where Wainwright grew up, is just a half an hour drive from Haworth, the home of the Brontë sisters, so it follows that Wainwright would write a drama or two about the famous authors. Sparkhouse was a BBC One modern adaptation of Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights which had Sarah Smart playing the Heathcliffe figure Carol Bolton and Joe McFadden playing the Cathy figure Andrew Lawton. The Guardian at the time said, “It all seems a little too Gothic, even for 21st-century Yorkshire,” but we thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard (2006)
A Liz Truss premonition of sorts, The Amazing Mrs Pritchard is about a woman with no political experience who becomes the Prime Minister of Britain. Supermarket manager Ros Pritchard (Jane Horrocks) is fed up with British politics so decides to stand as an independent candidate in her Yorkshire town Eatanswill. Well, things go remarkably well and she becomes PM, but politics is politics and some of Pritchard’s lofty morals come under remarkable strain as she struggles to navigate leading a government.
Unforgiven (2009)
One of the first of Sally Wainwright’s many shows involving the police, Unforgiven is a three-part miniseries set in Halifax about a woman, Ruth Slater (Suranne Jones), who murdered two police officers when she was a teenager. Now let out of prison, the series is about her efforts to find her sister who was adopted in the period following her crimes. The series was adapted in a 2021 film, The Unforgivable, which starred Sandra Bullock and Viola Davis.
Available to watch on ITVX
Last Tango in Halifax (2012-2020)
If you're having Sarah Lancashire/Sally Wainwright withdrawal, may I recommend Last Tango In Halifax, with SL as a lesbian headteacher. Here she is when a colleague threatens to out her. pic.twitter.com/tbmKfEN5I4
— Alexandra Pollard (@alexjpollard) February 6, 2023
This BAFTA award-winning comedy is classic Wainwright. Following a group of retirees in Halifax, the series was widely heralded for having given air time to an age group which is often ignored both in life and on TV.
Apparently based on the true story of Wainwright’s own mother, the story follows Celia Dawson (Anne Reid) and Alan Buttershaw (Derek Jacobi) who are widowed in their seventies. They’ve known each other since they were teenagers and now start to grow close again. Sarah Lancashire also stars, playing Celia’s daughter, Caroline. “When it comes to writing about family, nobody does it better than Sally Wainwright,” said one critic.
Available to watch on BBC iPlayer
To Walk Invisible (2016)
Another Brontë drama from Wainwright, To Walk Invisible is set in 1845 and focuses on the relationship between the sisters Charlotte, Emily and Anne. It follows their lives as they go about writing their novels, all while coping with their brother Branwell’s alcoholism. The Guardian said: “This, of course, is Wainwright’s specialist subject – the extraordinary things ordinary people face and the courage it takes to surmount them. She takes for granted the sisters’ genius (the books, after all, are there to prove it to us), leaving the focus on the domestic tyranny.”
Available to watch on BritBox
Gentleman Jack (2019-2022)
I still can’t believe Gentleman Jack got cancelled. How dare someone cancel a Sally Wainwright masterpiece.
— beth (@beefrench99) February 7, 2023
Gentleman Jack reimagines the life of landholder Anne Lister (played by Suranne Jones), who lived in Halifax’s Shibden Hall in the early 1800s. Years after her death, her extraordinary diary was discovered: it ran from 1806 until 1840, was a five million word volume that was written in code, and contained details of a lifetime of lesbian affairs. In Gentleman Jack, Wainwright retells portions of Lister’s life, particularly focusing on her secret relationship with landowner Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) and their marriage – one of the first known to have taken place in Britain. HBO cancelled the show in July last year, which upset a lot of fans.
Available to watch on BBC iPlayer
Coming soon: The Ballad Of Renegade Nell
Next up is The Ballad Of Renegade Nell, a new eight-part series coming to Disney+. As with so many of Wainwright’s dramas, the story has a strong female lead. Set in the 18th century, young woman Nell (Dery Girls’ Louisa Harland) is framed for murder and ends up becoming a notorious highwaywoman. Filming began in July 2022 and at the moment the series is set to be released sometime next year. Exciting.
