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Missing Happy Valley? These 12 dramas will help fill the void

Sorely missed: Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley - Ben Blackall
Sorely missed: Sarah Lancashire in Happy Valley - Ben Blackall

The deeply satisfying finale of screenwriter Sally Wainwright’s BBC mega-hit Happy Valley has left 11m fans bereft and a gaping hole in their Sunday night viewing schedules.

But never fear, because we’ve handpicked 12 shows with strong Happy Valley connections, either thematically or in terms of their creative personnel, all of which are available to stream right now.

For a woman juggling personal drama with a life-or-death job...

Nurse Jackie (Amazon Prime Video)

Showtime’s medical comedy-drama was a huge influence on Happy Valley: “I wanted to write my own Nurse Jackie,” said Sally Wainwright. “Obviously I couldn’t write about a nurse, so I wrote about a policewoman instead. Sergeant Catherine is my effort at a British Jackie Peyton.” The Sopranos’ Edie Falco stars as an ER nurse who popped prescription pills to get her through shifts at New York’s All Saints' Hospital. Some of Jackie’s lines – “I don’t do chatty. Quiet and mean, those are my people” – could have come out of Catherine’s mouth

For proof of Sarah Lancashire’s versatility…

Julia (Sky/Now/Amazon Prime Video)

Spotlight-shy Lancashire was about to take a sabbatical from acting when Hollywood came calling and HBO cast her as trailblazing TV chef Julia Child, previously played by Meryl Streep on celluloid. She pulled off the Seventies period trimmings and Californian accent with aplomb in this effervescent bio-drama. Her comedic chops were more than a match for Frasier’s David Hyde Pierce, who played Child’s husband Paul. The second season, partly set in France, is expected to land in April – so there’s time to catch up.

For another Sally Wainwright police drama...

Scott & Bailey (ITV3/ITVX/BritBox)

“I’ve seen more dead bodies than you’ve had embarrassing and inappropriate sexual encounters.” This much-missed police procedural was a conscious attempt to create a British version of Cagney & Lacey. It worked wonderfully, portraying the personal and professional life of detectives Janet Scott (Lesley Sharp) and Rachel Bailey (Suranne Jones) as they investigated murders for Manchester Metropolitan Police. Wainwright worked closely with real-life former DI Diane Taylor to authentically nail the nitty-gritty details. Watch it and idly fantasise about a crossover series with Sgt Catherine Cawood crossing the Pennies to join the team.

For similar scenery and Sarah Lancashire brilliance...

Last Tango in Halifax (BBC iPlayer)

She’ll surely soon be making room on her mantlepiece for another but Sarah Lancashire currently has two BAFTAs – one for Happy Valley’s debut series and another for this other Sally Wainwright creation, loosely based on her mother’s second marriage. An all too-rare TV portrait of mature romance, the warmly uplifting saga follows widowed septuagenarians Celia (Anne Reid) and Alan (Derek Jacobi) as they rekindle their relationship after 60 years apart. Lancashire and the equally marvellous Nicola Walker excelled as their respective daughters, polar opposites and struggling with their newly blended family.

For a portrait of addiction in Hebden Bridge...

Shed Your Tears & Walk Away (Apple TV+)

“Bohemian rural idyll? Or drugs town with a tourist problem?” Wainwright cites this heartbreaking 2009 documentary about drug abuse and alcohol problems in Hebden Bridge as a major inspiration for Happy Valley. Local director Jez Lewis originally intended to make a 15-minute short, investigating why his childhood friends were dying from overdoses and suicides. As events snowballed, he kept filming and produced an award-winning, feature-length piece about a year in the life of self-destructive central character Cass, a recovering heroin addict now seeking solace at the bottom of a Carlsberg Special Brew can.

Kate Winslet as grieving detective Mare - HBO
Kate Winslet as grieving detective Mare - HBO

For a US take on similar material...

Mare Of Easttown (Sky/Now)

A divorced female cop dealing with family tragedy. A deprived community ravaged by drugs and crime. Sound familiar? Kate Winslet scooped an Emmy and a Golden Globe for her career-best turn as embattled detective sergeant Marianne “Mare” Sheehan, struggling to hold her life together while investigating the murder of a teenage girl in a rustbelt Pennsylvanian suburb. It’s still up in the air whether the HBO hit will return for a second series. If we can’t have more Catherine Cawood, please can we have more Mare?

For a mighty Sarah Lancashire performance...

Kiri (All4/Netflix)

Lancashire’s world-weary demeanour, gallows humour, fierce protectiveness and maverick rule-breaking will strike a chord with Happy Valley fans in this devastating miniseries. By garlanded writer Jack Thorne and set in Bristol, Kiri traces the fallout from the abduction of a nine-year-old black girl from her white middle-class foster parents. Lancashire plays Kiri’s social worker Miriam, who finds herself under investigation. When it aired in 2018, the four-parter became the most-watched drama ever on catch-up service All4.

For northern grit and familiar faces…

Clocking Off (Drama/BBC iPlayer)

Paul Abbott’s BAFTA-winning Noughties ensemble drama followed employees at a Manchester textiles factory, each episode focusing on the personal travails of a different character. Among the cast are several Happy Valley alumni: Sarah Lancashire as vengeful machinist Yvonne, Derek Riddell as jilted Jamie and Siobhan Finneran as downtrodden dreamer Julie. Its bone-dry wit, gut-punch performances and patchwork of interwoven stories feel warmly familiar too. For a neglected Sally Wainwright gem...

For a neglected Sally Wainwright gem…

Unforgiven (ITVX/BritBox)

Before Scott & Bailey and Last Tango, Wainwright created this enthralling three-part crime thriller. Wainwright regular Suranne Jones starred as a Ruth, a woman found guilty of murdering two police officers in her teens. Released from prison after serving 15 years, Ruth tried to rebuild her life and track down her younger sister, who was adopted shortly after the shootings. A haunting tale of revenge and redemption, led by a stunning performance from Jones. Happy Valley’s Siobhan Finneran and George Costigan pop up in the superior supporting cast.

For more James Norton villainy...

McMafia (Alibi/Amazon Prime Video)

Speculation about Norton as a potential James Bond was fuelled by this stylish jet-setting thriller, based on journalist Misha Glenny’s book about global organised crime. A world away from Tommy Lee Royce’s prison scrubs and Yorkshire grunts, here Norton was suited and booted as Alex Godman, the British-raised son of a retired Russia mafia boss. When his uncle was assassinated, City slicker Alex was drawn into a power struggle between the Russian and Israeli mobs. Spoiler: he doesn’t end up setting fire to himself in a Hebden Bridge kitchen.

For small-town police heroines…

Fargo (Amazon Prime Video/Apple TV+)

Wainwright once described Happy Valley as “Juliet Bravo meets Fargo”. All the reason you need to explore this blackly comic crime anthology. Inspired by the Coen brothers’ cult film and set within the same fictional Minnesota universe, it aired in the UK on late-night Channel 4 and never won the audience it deserved. Each of the four series told a different quirkily noir-ish story but the first and third – respectively starring Alison Tolman as a dogged deputy and Carrie Coon as a divorced police chief – are the best and most Happy Valley-esque. A fifth chapter, starring Jon Hamm and Jennifer Jason Leigh, lands later this year.

For a formidable woman stomping around West Yorkshire...

Gentleman Jack (BBC iPlayer)

They might be separated by nearly 200 years but Anne Lister and Catherine Cawood have much in common. A long-planned passion project for Wainwright, this exuberant period drama Gentleman Jack told the story of Halifax landowner, industrialist and “first modern lesbian” Lister (Suranne Jones again), based on her cryptic-coded diaries. As she restored her family’s ancestral estate of Shibden Hall, opened a coal mine and fell in love, this force-of-nature made for a charismatic heroine, winning fans worldwide. Radical, rollicking and movingly romantic. You can also play “Spot the Happy Valley alumni” in the supporting cast.