Happy Valley season 3: who is in cast with Sarah Lancashire as filming begins?

Filming is underway for the third series of Sally Wainwright's hit BBC show Happy Valley.

Sarah Lancashire will reprise her role as Sergeant Catherine Cawood for what will be the final series of the iconic drama.

The BBC has now announced the names who are returning for the final instalment.

Which familiar characters are returning for series three of Happy Valley?

As well as Sarah Lancashire, James Norton and Siobhan Finneran will also return for series three - as Catherine’s nemesis, the murderer and sex offender Tommy Lee Royce, and Catherine’s sister, the recovering addict Clare Cartwright, respectively.

Also returning to the streets of West Yorkshire is Con O’Neill, who will reprise his role as Clare’s recovering alcoholic boyfriend Neil Ackroyd.

George Costigan will return as Nevison Gallagher, with Charlie Murphy as his daughter and Catherine’s police colleague Ann.

They will be joined by other Happy Valley returning favourites including Derek Riddell as Richard Cawood, Karl Davies as Daniel Cawood, Susan Lynch as Alison Garrs, Rick Warden as Mike Taylor, Vincent Franklin as Andy Shepherd and Rhys Connah as Catherine’s grandson Ryan Cawood.

Are there going to be new characters in this series?

In addition to the familiar faces, a selection of new characters are set to play a vital role in the series three storyline.

Amit Shah (The Other One, The Long Call), Mark Stanley (The Girl Before, White House Farm) and Mollie Winnard (All Creatures Great And Small, Four Lives) are all confirmed to be part of the cast.

Can I catch up on or re-watch series one and two?

If you want to get on board with Happy Valley or feel like refreshing your memory of where series two left off, then we’ve good news for you.

Both of the series so far are available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

When is series three out?

According to the BBC, filming is set to continue around West Yorkshire over the coming months, and more details about when the series will air are to be announced in due course.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading. NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. We want to start a community among our readers, so please follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and keep the conversation going. You can also sign up to our email newsletters and get a curated selection of our best reads to your inbox every day.