Young star Rhys reflects on growing up in Happy Valley

Actor recalls his mum getting a script called Happy Valley' and thinking 'this is going to be a nice kids' show...

- JESSICA SANSOME

IT had been seven years since we last saw a young Ryan Cawood on-screen with his gran, Catherine Cawood, in the hit drama Happy Valley - and some fans of the BBC One show may not know that there's is a very good reason for that.

Rhys Connah took on the role of Ryan, the son of Catherine's late daughter, Becky, and the evil Tommy Lee Royce, back in 2014 when he was just eight-years-old.

When he first bagged the role a decade ago, it appears his family thought he was going to be in a children's TV show due to the programme's seemingly optimistic name.

"I overheard my mum speaking once to one of her friends," Rhys, from Heywood, previously revealed. "She was like, 'We got this script and it's called Happy Valley and I thought, this is going to be a really nice kids' show.