‘Happy Valley’ final scores 7.5M for BBC; Star Sarah Lancashire sets up indie with husband Peter Salmon
BBC One’s BAFTA-winning crime drama finale happy valley Last night received 7.5 million viewers in the UK.
Ratings generated by barb data from overnights.tv happy valley Highest rated show of 2023 so far and biggest show in recent BBC drama history. The figure equates to a share of about 42% of people who were watching TV at the time.
The six-episode series began last month and aired in the 9pm BBC One slot which has taken the likes of it Line of duty There was a settlement before. Completion numbers will balloon further as on-demand viewing picks up in the coming weeks.
The third and final season concluded with star Sarah Lancashire’s long-running game of cat-and-mouse with police sergeant Catherine Cowde’s psychopathic bully Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton).
Season three comes seven years after the previous run ended. The series’ popularity in the UK has led to flocks of visitors to Hebden Bridge, the northern English town where the show is set. Internationally, the show gained popularity after streaming on Netflix, and a third season was co-produced with AMC+.
BBC Studios-owned drama house Lookout Point produces the show, with creator and writer Sally Wainwright and Lancashire among the executive producers.
happy valleyIts conclusion comes at the start of a new venture for the Lancashire, who has teamed up with husband and former BBC and Bonjoy UK boss Peter Salmon to launch Via Pictures.
Details logged at Companies House show the pair are directors of a new manufacturing business based in Manchester. The company quietly launched in January.
Lancashire’s credit included Coronation Street, Clocking off, Last Tango in Halifax, kiri And Julia. Salman was most recently Executive Chair of Banijay UK, Chief Content Officer at Endemol Shine Group before taking over Banijay. He was an executive at the BBC Channel and BBC Studios, and worked at other influential British production companies such as the Television Corporation.
