The writer of the hit show Happy Valley started her career writing at ITV soap Coronation Street, a show she thinks has now got a “bit samey”.
Sally Wainwright penned Happy Valley and the popular show Gentlemen Jack, among other hits. Before the success of her shows, such as Last Tango in Halifax and Scott & Bailey, she spent many years writing on Coronation Street.
Sally wrote on 99 episodes between 1994 and 1999, back when the soap was a “classy show”.
Before Happy Valley
Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, the creative shared her take on the show at present. Sally said she got bored with soaps when “the stories got a bit samey and a bit similar, all about romance”.
She added: “Certainly, that happened in Coronation Street. Or [they were] just a lot more obsessed with getting younger viewers and so making stories about younger people and ignoring the fact that the key audience was older than that.”
The soap was “proper kitchen sink drama” and “such a classy show” back in its heyday, she continued.
It was about the real things that happened to real people.
In 1994, Coronation Street aired two episodes a week, going up to four by the time she left. The show currently airs six episodes a week.
Are we ready for the finale of #HappyValley on Sunday? It’s going to be eventful👀😱 pic.twitter.com/80JAEOxrdy
— Happy Valley (@happyvalleybbc) February 1, 2023
Soaps nowadays
The increased demand has made the episodes more “melodramatic”, the writer said.
“I think the problem with that is you just have so much turnover of plot that it inevitably becomes melodramatic,” Sally added. “When it goes out at that volume [of episodes], inevitably with the ravages of story, it just becomes more and more heightened and crazy and unbelievable. I don’t know if that’s been a problem that is become less grounded.”
Despite her lack of love for soaps, she likes the talent from them. She has worked with Sarah Lancashire and Suranne Jones multiple times. Both have appeared in Coronation Street.
What’s next?
Also, at the Edinburgh TV Festival, she revealed she is writing a new show – Hot Flush.
The show will follow five women of a “certain age” who form a punk rock band.
Read more: Coronation Street: Cassie ‘giving out Kirsty Soames vibes’ as fans fear for Tyrone
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