Happy Valley role born out of fear, Sarah Lancashire says

South Wales Argus

22-07-2025

Lancashire, 60, won two leading actress Baftas for playing no-nonsense Sergeant Catherine Cawood in the BBC drama set in Hebden Bridge.
Her decades-long 'brilliant and intangible' working relationship with writer Sally Wainwright influenced her role, but fear was key to her performance.
Lancashire was honoured by the Princess Royal (Jonathan Brady/PA)
Discussing the role at Windsor Castle on Tuesday, after being formally made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE), Lancashire told the PA news agency: 'That was just born out of fear, abject fear, of feeling quite off-piste.
'Literally it was a leap of faith, jumping off the cliff at midnight in the dark.
'But knowing that somebody has the confidence in you and the belief in you – she (Wainwright) is deeply persuasive as an individual, which I absolutely, really admire, I'm very grateful, always.'
Lancashire's breakout role came as fan-favourite barmaid Raquel Watts in Coronation Street, which she played for five years until 1996, appearing in more than 260 episodes.
She and Wainwright first met when they were 'cutting their teeth' on the soap opera.
The duo later collaborated on the BBC drama Last Tango In Halifax, for which Lancashire won her first Bafta in 2014 for her supporting role.
They worked together again on Happy Valley, which ran from 2014 to 2023.
Asked what spurred the terror of playing Sergeant Cawood, Lancashire told PA: 'The setting of it, being asked to play something which I had no knowledge of at all – absolutely no knowledge.
'And knowing that the level of research that was available to me was going to be quite limited in the time available.
'But in actual fact – as she (Wainwright) always said – it wasn't a procedural drama, it was not a police drama, it… was a family.'
She spoke about performing during a conversation with the Princess Royal at the ceremony at the Berkshire royal residence.
Anne told her that she had briefly acted while at boarding school, Lancashire said.
The actress told PA: 'We were really talking about performance, and how she'd done a little bit of this when she was at boarding school.
'I think they all had to go onto a stage at some point and it can stand you in very good stead for future roles in life, no matter where it takes you.'
Being a professional actor 'is sort of clinging on for dear life', she said.
'It never changes. Very often as an actor you're swimming against the tide whilst standing on shifting sand.
'You feel that you may have some sort of trajectory but then the industry changes, because the industry is ever-evolving – every 10 years, you'll find yourself in an industry which is slightly different, requiring something different from you.
'So you're never secure, there's never a moment where you can be complacent, at all.
'It's sort of a clinging on for dear life, you just hope that you can stay with it.'
Her relationship with Wainwright was pivotal in fighting that tide.
She said: 'Having known her (Wainwright) for a very long time, decades, and just meeting someone whose voice you admire so much.
'Who knows why… there's an alchemy, that just works. It's a wonderful thing when you find it, not that I was looking for it, but it just happens – that's a tremendous thing.'