Happy Valley

1 May 2014

Watched by over 6million viewers (27.3% share) on Tuesday night, Happy Valley is a compelling crime thriller from award-winning writer Sally Wainwright and RED Production Company. Starring a wealth of British talent, including Sarah Lancashire, Steve Pemberton and Siobhan Finneran, the six-part series follows police sergeant Catherine Cawood as she investigates a botched kidnapping that turns into a much more brutal and vicious series of crimes.

Premier has being handling the programme publicity since filming began in the Calder Valley area of Yorkshire at the end of last year. To kick things off, a number of set visits were arranged for journalists to get a feel for the drama by watching the cast in action and then getting the chance to grill them afterwards. Despite an early start, and a few bleary eyes at Kings Cross Station, the set visits were a great success and resulted in a fantastic spread of coverage across key TV listing magazines and weekend supplements. This included the front cover of TV Times and double page spreads in the likes of Radio Times and TV & Satellite Week.

Once filming had wrapped at the end of March, the cast went on to complete a diverse range of interviews with publications including Radio Times, Shortlist, Heat, Metro, Press Association, The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Mail on Sunday. These appeared in the week leading up to the first episode in order to build momentum and generate excitement and buzz around the series launching.

To give journalists a taste of what to expect from the drama, and write their preview pieces, a press screening was held at the Charlotte Street Hotel on 26 March. Following a screening of the first episode, Sarah Lancashire, James Norton, Sally Wainwright, Nicola Shindler and Euros Lyn all took to the stage to take part in a Q&A, answering all of the journalists' burning questions about what they had just seen.

The day before the first episode aired, the cast and Sally Wainwright appeared on The One Show (BBC One), BBC Breakfast (BBC One) and Front Row (BBC Radio 4) to discuss the project and tease what viewers could expect.

Happy Valley continues on Tuesdays at 9pm on BBC One.