Happy Valley has returned to BBC One for its third and final season, six years after it last appeared on our screens.
Oldham lass Sarah Lancashire stars as Sergeant Catherine Cawood in the gritty police drama. The third season sees Catherine discover the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, which sets off a chain of events and leads her to Tommy Lee Royce, the man who raped her daughter.
Her grandson Ryan is now sixteen and is starting to question what kind of relationship he should have with his father. Sarah has had an illustrious career on screen - but has also battled plenty of personal hardships while in the spotlight.
She was born in Oldham in 1964 and grew up with her parents and three brothers, including a twin. Her dad Geoffrey was a TV scriptwriter for Coronation Street and her mum, Hilda, worked as his personal assistant.
The star attended Oldham Hulme Grammar School and went on to train at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. She landed her first acting role at the Manchester Library Theatre Company, performing two plays which she says was the start of her career as an actor.
Between theatre roles, Sarah, 58, worked as a drama tutor at the University of Salford to supplement her income - and did so for around five years while pursuing her acting career. Landing her breakthrough role, Sarah famously played barmaid Raquel Wolstenhulme in the ITV soap Coronation Street from 1991 to 1996 and again in 2000.
At one point, she was the highest-paid TV actress in the UK after singing a golden-handcuff deal with ITV. Her other TV credits include dramas Last Tango in Halifax, The Paradise and Julia. She's also performed in films and plays on the West End.
The BAFTA-winning actress was also appointed an OBE in 2017. Despite her success, Sarah has always been candid about her struggles with her mental health.
Sarah, who began suffering from clinical depression as a teenager, previously told The Scotsman that while shooting Coronation Street she was on medication and considered taking her own life twice. The only people who knew she was struggling were her family as she never told anyone at ITV and continued to show up to work every day.
She said: "In my early days, depression did inhibit me because I was too debilitated and terrified to tell anyone why I couldn’t get on a train from Manchester for auditions in London," she says. "I fully believed I’d lose work if I admitted to it. Tranquillisers were the worst thing for it and I ended up in a terrible mess. My twenties were a write-off.
"It’s a cruel illness because you can’t see it and you can hide it so well. At least, I can. I’m a genius at hiding it. I think a lot of people are. Actors are bloody marvellous at hiding... My family knew, but I didn’t tell anyone at Coronation Street and I didn’t take any time off. I just battled along, which was the worst thing I could have done. Every day I was hysterical at the thought of getting out of bed, but I made myself do it."
The star sought help for her mental health when her mother encouraged her to visit a doctor, reports WalesOnline. She says seeking help "gave me my life back".
When Sarah was 22 she married her first husband Gary Hargreaves, who was 11 years older than her, out of pressure not to have a child out of wedlock. She told The Telegraph: "I got married only because I was pregnant. Simple as that. I am a very traditional girl and was horrified at the thought of having a child out of wedlock. I didn't want a child of mine to be different or have fingers pointed at."
After struggling with her mental health and her breakdown during Coronation Street, Sarah left her first marriage, as this was also making her unhappy. She said: "My marriage lasted for 10 years, which was 10 years longer than it should have done. It was tough."
In 2000 she started seeing her now husband former director of BBC North and Chief Creative Officer of BBC Vision Peter Salmon. The couple became engaged and married in 2001.
Sara has three children from her two marriages. She and Gary welcomed sons Thomas in 1987 and Matthew two years later in 1988. With Peter, she shares 19-year-old son Joseph.
She previously spoke about being a mother, saying she became "public property" due to her Coronation Street fame. The actress said how people saw her as Raquel and this made it “very difficult”, however, she said having her children before rising to fame helped.
The star told the Sunday Mirror in 2000: "To my children I am a mum. I am nothing more. I am a mum who happens to work on television, which they have been used to since they were born, so there’s no big deal.”
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