Inside the wild productions secrets behind the scenes in the making of Happy Valley

Happy Valley has come to an end, and with each day that goes by it’s not getting any easier knowing it’s never coming back again, but we’re making the best of it. And what better way than to have a look back over some of the production secrets and behind the scenes moments shared? From Sarah on set to James Norton sharing the insane way they filmed the finale car scene – here’s what goes on behind the camera of Happy Valley.

Sarah Lancashire filming the final season last year

This video shows Sarah Lancashire on the set of season three, saying hi to fans as she filmed that roadside scuffle with the gangsters. It’s a good watch, even if just to hear Sarah Lancashire’s actual accent when she’s not playing Catherine Cawood!

James Norton talking about the courtroom escape

James Norton chatted to BBC Breakfast about what it was like to film the escape from the box in court, one of the season’s most thrilling moments as Tommy Lee Royce executed his escape from prison. “Yeah, you think you can do anything and then you do it and you’re like, ow. Yesterday I looked down and my leg was bleeding. There’s an energy about Tommy, there’s a kind of animal, vital force so when he’s allowed to let rip like he was yesterday…”

James Norton’s video of the making of the Happy Valley car fight

In the season finale’s most action packed moment, Tommy Lee Royce correctly suspects Darius Knezevic is about to kill him off when his thugs ask Tommy to get into the boot. What ensues is a bloody and brutal scrap to the death as the car hurtles through the roads and fields of Calder Valley.

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Thanks to a reel shared by James Norton, we now get to see how it all was made – and it’s completely bizarre.

The car was stationary and surrounded by LED screens that simulated the car speeding through Yorkshire. I’ve never seen an action scene filmed like this before, so was interesting to see how high tech the operation looked.

James Norton was being goofy as usual!

I love him.

The exterior bits were of course done on location, as per this wholesome selfie:

I’ll miss this show so much, hopefully more of the cast will show more of the making of Happy Valley – I’ve seen some fans online talking about the BBC doing a documentary about it because they went into the cafe of Clare and Catherine’s confrontation in the last week or so to do some filming. Stay tuned on that one!

Happy Valley seasons one to three are available to stream now on BBC  iPlayer.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• There’s a theory the Happy Valley ending has been staring right at us on the poster

• The definitive tier list ranking of every major character in Happy Valley

• This Happy Valley theory about who Tommy Lee Royce’s real dad is has changed my life