Well-loved BBC One drama Happy Valley, starring Sarah Lancashire, is back on screen for the first time in nearly seven years. The drama, which follows the life of police officer Catherine Cawood, made its debut in 2014 and was last aired in 2016 so many fans are no doubt wondering why it's taken so long for the comeback.
In the third series, which will begin at 9pm on BBC One on Sunday, January 1, Catherine will yet again come face to face with Tommy, the man who raped her daughter and who Catherine believes is responsible for her daughter's suicide. If you need to catch up on series one and two you can read our guide to what happened in the previous series here.
One of the main storylines in the new series will be based on Tommy's relationship with his son and Catherine's grandson Ryan - who Catherine is desperate to keep out of Tommy's life. In the previous series Ryan, who is played by Rhys Connah, was just eight years (2014) and 10 years old (2016).
READ MORE: BBC Happy Valley series 3 start time, cast, plot and locations as Sarah Lancashire drama returns
Writer Sally Wainwright wanted to wait for Ryan - and therefore Rhys - to grow up so more of the plot could centre around his relationship with his dad in series three. Ryan will now be 16 in the third series, hence the big time gap between series two and three.
Sally said: "I waited six years because I wanted to get to a point where Ryan would be old enough to start making choices about whether he wanted to have a relationship with his dad or not. And could he have a relationship with his dad, and how would Catherine feel about that? I really wanted to be able to explore that. It’s been great that we got Rhys back to play Ryan which has been fantastic, and he has done a really lovely job in that. That was always the intention, to have a gap and it has worked out just about right."
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