Well-loved BBC One drama Happy Valley has returned after nearly seven years. The drama follows the life of police officer Catherine Cawood who is played by leading lady Sarah Lancashire, you can read more about Sarah here, and viewers were very excited for the series to return.
Within minutes of the drama starting, many fans took to Twitter to say how happy they were that the drama was back. One said: "We've waited years for this, hands down the best drama that I've ever watched and I've full faith that series 3 will be worth the wait #HappyValley."
Another said: "#HappyValley so excited about this. Forgot what an absolutely amazing actor Sarah Lancashire is" and a third added: "I have been so excited for this!! #HappyValley". And anpther fan pointed out: "Been so looking forward to the return of #HappyValley!" A fifth said: "So pleased #HappyValley is back on!"
READ MORE: BBC Happy Valley: How many episodes are there in series 3 of the Sarah Lancashire drama?
The writer of the show Sally Wainwright explained why she waited so long for the third series. 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).
Sally 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.
She 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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