Naman Shrestha
Created by Sally Wainwright, BBC One’s ‘Happy Valley’ is a British crime drama series that revolves around Police Sergeant Catherine Cawood, who navigates her personal as well as professional life while investigating different kinds of cases in the small town. Still processing the tragic death of her daughter, Cawood tries to maintain her calm but loses it when she comes across Tommy Lee Royce, who she thinks is responsible for raping her daughter.
Now, she becomes obsessed with finding Royce while he gets involved in a big kidnapping case instigated by Kevin Weatherill. Starring Sarah Lancashire, James Norton, Siobhan Finneran, George Costigan, and Rhys Connah, the crime show unfolds in West Yorkshire’s Calder Valley as the protagonist is seen moving across the town dealing with her personal and professional life. Given the myriad of different locations in the backdrop, the audience is bound to wonder where ‘Happy Valley’ is shot.
Happy Valley Filming Locations
‘Happy Valley’ is filmed in its entirety in England, specifically in West Yorkshire. While the inaugural iteration of the drama show commenced in November 2013, the shooting for the sophomore round began in August 2015. As for the principal photography of the third season, it commenced after a long break in January 2022 and wrapped up in May of the same year. So, let’s follow Catherine Cawood and get a detailed account of all the specific locations where she solves different cases in the BBC One series!
West Yorkshire, England
The metropolitan and ceremonial county of West Yorkshire, which is where the story is set, serves as the primary production location for ‘Happy Valley’ with almost the entirety of the show being lensed on location. In particular, the county’s metropolitan borough of Calderdale, which includes various small towns, is heavily featured in several pivotal sequences of the crime drama show. For instance, the filming unit utilizes the locales of Todmorden, Luddenden Foot, Mytholmroyd, Heptonstall, Ripponden, Hebden Bridge, Sowerby Bridge, Park Wood Crematorium on Park Road in Elland, and Halifax, which served as one of the prominent filming sites for season 3.
While a former police station on Station Road in Sowerby Bridge stands in for Catherine’s workplace, a couple of establishments in Hebden Bridge double as her home and a local pub. For season 3, Halifax Swimming Pool, Spa and Gym on Skircoat Road in Halifax was transformed into a police station. Moreover, Holdsworth House Hotel & Restaurant on Holdsworth Road in Holdsworth, one of Harveys department stores, and the suburb of Boothtown, all in Halifax, feature in the crime series as well. Various car driving and drone scenes for season 3 were also shot on Cold Edge Road & Withens Road in Wainstalls.
Various locales of the City of Bradford also make regular appearances throughout the Sarah Lancashire starter. A disused quarry in the city is used for the drained Baitings reservoir, while some parts are also taped on Market Street in Bradford’s village of Thornton. Other sites and towns of Bradford where the cast and crew members set up camp are Keighley, Baildon, and Bierley.
Apart from Meltham, there are plenty of other locales of the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, especially in the market town of Huddersfield, that feature in the BBC One show. They are Greenhead Park on Trinity Street, Piazza Shopping Centre at 23 Princess Alexandra Walk, and North Light Film Studios in Brooke’s Mill, Armitage Bridge, in Huddersfield. The film studio is home to four different stages spread across 19,000 square feet and is used to tape several office interior scenes in ‘Happy Valley.’
Furthermore, the filming unit recorded a few portions of the show in and around Leeds City Railway Station on New Station Street and Kirkgate Market, both in Leeds. For shooting some minor portions, the production team also traveled outside of West Yorkshire. The Oakham Enterprise Park on Ashwell Road in Oakham is transformed into a prison for the series. In the meanwhile, several locales and sites of Bolton, a town in Greater Manchester in England were also utilized for lensing a number of sequences.
Read More: Is Happy Valley Based on a True Story?
