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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Rebecca Nicholson

‘Hiya’ – my brutally honest hour with Siobhan Finneran, the unsung queen of TV

Siobhan Finneran as Clare Cartwright in series three of Happy Valley.
‘I couldn’t breathe, reading those scripts’: Siobhan Finneran as Clare Cartwright in series three of Happy Valley. Photograph: Matt Squire/BBC/Lookout Point/AMC

It may be one of the most devastating scenes in the history of British television. In the final series of Happy Valley, Catherine Cawood begins to understand that her sister Clare has betrayed her, and has been lying about where she is. Catherine watches Clare from outside a cafe, then walks in, sits down at Clare’s table and says one iconic word: “Hiya.”

Siobhan Finneran, who played Clare for a decade, pops up on my laptop screen. Surely there is only one way to start the conversation. “Hiya,” I deadpan, in my best Sarah Lancashire voice.

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