It had been seven years since we last saw a young Ryan Cawood on-screen with his gran, Catherine Cawood, in the hit drama Happy Valley. And some fans of the BBC One show may not know that there's is a very good reason for that.
Rhys Connah took on the role of Ryan, the son of Catherine's late daughter, Becky, and the evil Tommy Lee Royce, back in 2014 when he was just eight-years-old. When he first bagged the role a decade ago, it appears his family thought he was going to be in a children's TV show due to the programme's seemingly optimistic name.
"I overheard my mum speaking once to one of her friends," Rhys, from Heywood, Greater Manchester, previously revealed. "She was like, 'We got this script and it's called Happy Valley and I thought, this is going to be a really nice kids' show. Then I opened the script and I started reading and I thought - this is not a kids' show!'"
And a kids' TV show is definitely what it's not. The third and final season of Happy Valley, which started on January 1 and comes to and end on February 5, kicked off with Catherine being led back to Tommy after she discovered the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir.
The discovery sparked a series of events that eventually saw her discover that grandson Ryan was seeing his dad. After a tip-off from her colleague in the police force, Catherine was shocked to discover it was her sister who was facilitating Ryan's visits to the Category-A prison in Leeds with her partner Neil Ackroyd.
Fast forward a couple of weeks to the penultimate episode and all eyes were on Tommy following his dramatic escape while standing trial for the murder of Gary Gaggowski. At the same time, confused teen Ryan discovered the horrific truth about his killer father from Ann Gallagher, who was abducted and raped by the vile psychopath back in series one.
After Ryan was tracked down, and before being taken to Nevison's house with Clare and Neil to hide out from any possible appearance from Tommy, Ryan opened up to his uncle, Daniel about why he wanted to see his dad. There was then an unusually emotional moment where the teen told his gran he loved her.
And it may be unusual for the same actor to play the same role due to the speed of ageing not quite being as fast as the demand for another serious. However, the show's creator Sally Wainwright previously revealed that the programme took a deliberately long pause between series two and three as she wanted to wait for Rhys to grow up and reprise his role as an angsty teenager.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live: "The gap really was about waiting for the character of Ryan to be old enough to have his own agenda, and be [able to have] a thoughtful response to his situation regarding his relationship with Tommy Lee Royce."
Rhy recently also said: "I was told at some point, I honestly can't remember when, that she was waiting for us to grow up a bit. But I didn't know to what extent I'd be growing up. I didn't know if I'd be waiting until I was 14/15 or until I was 25 or something. Then I got a call: 'It's happening.'"
But working on Happy Valley during his earlier school years appeared to have its benefits. "I was the coolest kid in school because I got to walk in like, 'Guess what, I got to swear and no-one could shout at me, no-one could say anything.," he previously shared before adding: "I got to swear loads all day.'"
Following series two, the now-16-year-old has got a few more acting credits to his name. He starred in the 2017 TV mini-series The White Princess as Teddy, alongside Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer. He has also appeared in the film The Runaways where he played Ben and the short The Snow Maze, where he portrayed Tim.
Not much else is known about Rhys' life away from playing Ryan except he does use his Instagram and Twitter accounts to share little snippets of his life on and off screen. On Mother's Day last year, Rhys retweeted a video montage of clips between himself and onscreen grandmother Sarah Lancashire as Catherine, with the caption:"'Happy Mother's Day everyone."
The sixth and last episode of the final series of Happy Valley airs on BBC One on Sunday, February 5 at 9pm.
Have a go at our quiz below or via this link to see which Happy Valley character you are:
READ NEXT:
- Real life of BBC Happy Valley's Tommy Lee Royce actor James Norton - actress fiancée, 'life-threatening' condition and bullying ordeal
- Real life of BBC Happy Valley's Siobhan Finneran - forgotten ITV roles, ex-Emmerdale star husband and northern inspiration
Christine McGuinness addresses question she's always asked as she says she's 'free and happy'
Helen Skelton reveals 'secret' about her time on BBC Strictly as co-star 'feels' for Gorka Marquez
