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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Niamh Spence

Coronation Street icon Sarah Lancashire finally cracks Hollywood after landing new fan base

Actress Sarah Lancashire is reportedly receiving calls from Hollywood agents asking her to take on roles following her success in drama Happy Valley.

Sarah, 58, has returned as Sergeant Catherine Cawood in the third and final series of Sally Wainwright’s Bafta award-winning crime drama, Happy Valley.

Sarah, who became a recognised face on TV when she played barmaid Raquel Wolstenhulme on Coronation Street, has won herself a huge new fan base. Roles such as chef Julia Child for HBO drama 'Julia' saw the star picking up fans in the US as well as around the world.

Now Hollywood agents are pushing her to take on more roles Stateside.

Sarah Lancashire returns to the role of Sergeant Catherine Cawood in the third series of Happy Valley (PA)

After 35 years of acting, the call for roles from the US has never been greater for Sarah who has built her career in British drama including ITV's Coronation Street and BBC's The Paradise and Happy Valley.

A chance role in a US drama just before lockdown appears to be the catalyst for turning Sarah's luck around.

At the end of 2019 Sarah had sworn to take a year off acting and take a well-deserved break. However, just days in her agent was asking her to read a pilot script for a new HBO series, 'Julia'.

Sarah's performance as chef Julia Childs in HBO's 'Julia' won over fans in the US (© 2022 WarnerMedia Direct, LLC. All Rights Reserved. HBO Max™ is used under license.)

Flying to the US to audition, Sarah won the role but filming was halted after just three days when COVID-19 swept around the world and plunged everyone into lockdown. Production didn’t resume until the summer of 2021, leaving mum of three sarah stranded in America and unable to see her family back in Britain.

However, filming did resume and the series was a huge success. A second series of the programme has just wrapped, with insiders predicting more US roles for Sarah.

One insider told Mail Online : "Hollywood loves a Brit, especially one who is a British national treasure like Sarah. There are so many opportunities for her here."

Sarah won a BAFTA for her performance as Catherine Cawood in Happy Valley (PA)

However a move to the US or extended periods away from home might not be top if Sarah's list. The actress prefers to be closer to home, and her three sons.

In an interview, she confessed: "The older that I get, the harder it is to be away from home. I love being at home. I’m very much a mum when I go home – the mums among us know it’s a full-time job."

Happy Valley, where Sarah plays Sergeant Catherine Cawood is returning to TV screens much to viewers' delight. In the series. The series is set in West Yorkshire's Calder Valley, and follows Sarah's character Catherine as she deals with police matters from small petty theft to murder.

The third series begins with the discovery of the remains of a gangland figure in a drained reservoir, which leads Catherine to jailed nemesis Tommy Lee Royce.

Previous series revealed Catherine holds Tommy responsible for the suicide of her 18-year-old daughter Becky, who took her own life after giving birth to Ryan, conceived after she was raped by psychopath Tommy.

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