Filming for the third and final series of hit drama Happy Valley has begun in West Yorkshire, the BBC has announced.
Actress Sarah Lancashire will reprise her role as Sergeant Catherine Cawood, with James Norton and Siobhan Finneran also confirmed to return.
The six-part series will be the final chapter of the Happy Valley story, created by writer Sally Wainwright.
🎬 Filming has begun on #HappyValley series three, as new and returning cast members are announced.
— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) January 19, 2022
The multi-Bafta winning show will see Norton back as Catherine’s nemesis, murderer and sex offender Tommy Lee Royce, and Finneran returning as Catherine’s sister, Clare.
The BBC has also confirmed that Con O’Neill will reprise his role as Clare’s recovering alcoholic boyfriend, Neil Ackroyd, while George Costigan will be back as Nevison Gallagher and Charlie Murphy as his daughter and Catherine’s police colleague, Ann.
They will be joined by other Happy Valley favourites, including Derek Riddell as Richard Cawood, Karl Davies as Daniel Cawood, and Susan Lynch as Alison Garrs.
Rick Warden as Mike Taylor, Vincent Franklin as Andy Shepherd, and Rhys Connah as Catherine’s grandson, Ryan Cawood, will also return for the new episodes.
New additions to the cast for series three include actors Amit Shah, Mark Stanley and Mollie Winnard, who will play pivotal roles in Happy Valley’s final chapter.
The new series will see Catherine discover the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, sparking a chain of events that unwittingly leads her straight back to Royce.
Her grandson, Ryan, is now 16 and still living with her, but he has ideas of his own about what kind of relationship he wants to have with the man Catherine refuses to acknowledge as his father.
Still battling the seemingly never-ending problem of drugs in the valley and those who supply them, Catherine is on the cusp of retirement.
The last series of Happy Valley aired on BBC One in 2016. Both series one and two won Baftas for best drama series and writing, while Lancashire won the leading actress prize for the second series.
Wainwright has returned to write the six new episodes and will act as an executive producer with Lancashire alongside Faith Penhale and Will Johnston from production company Lookout Point and BBC’s Ben Irving.
Series three, which will be directed by Patrick Harkins and Fergus O’Brien, will premiere on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
The first two series of Happy Valley are available to watch on iPlayer now.