Fresh off the back of the penultimate episode of BBC smash Happy Valley, creator Sally Wainwright this morning cryptically teased her next project, as she talked up the virtues of taking a six month hiatus.
Speaking to the BBC’s Today program, the Gentleman Jack scribe said she has recently been learning the drums and this is acting as prep for her next project when she returns to writing in February.
Wainwright didn’t go into any further detail but said she had enjoyed her recent six month hiatus “a bit too much” following a “tough and bruising year.”
“I’ll be starting work again come February,” added Wainwright. “I’ve been a bit of a workaholic for 20 years so having the time off was great but it will soon be time to go back to the conveyor belt.”
Wainwright had also been working on upcoming Disney+ project The Ballad of Renegade Nell and past credits include Last Tango in Halifax and To Walk Invisible.
Happy Valley has been attracting millions of viewers per ep and drawing critical acclaim as the third and final season of the Sarah Lancashire and James Norton-starrer draws to a close this weekend.
Set in the northern English town of Hebden Bridge, the show has drawn acclaim for its down-to-earth portrayal of local life and Lancashire’s no nonsense approach playing lead Catherine Cawood coupled with Norton’s deranged Tommy Lee Royce.
Wainwright defended the accusation that she solely writes “strong women and weak men.”
“I get annoyed by that as Catherine’s a complicated character,” she added. “She’s complicated and not always very likeable.”
Norton’s evil character Royce, however, is “physically strong but mentally weak,” she added.
Wainwright reflected on a whirlwind few years working on a show that she never thought would take off in the way it has.
“During season one Sarah said ‘God I hope people get this’ but it’s inconceivable now that they wouldn’t,” she added. “I put the same amount of effort into everything I do but I never know how audiences will react until it’s out there.”
