Teen HAPPY Valley actor Rhys Connah played the role of Ryan Cawood for nearly a decade of his life.
The 16-year-old confesses he was the envy of his schoolmates when he first starred in the BBC drama aged just eight – and not because of the the show’s BAFTA wins.
Happy Valley teen actor Rhys Connah played the role of Ryan Cawood for almost a decade of his life[/caption]
Rhys first starred in the BBC drama aged just eight after he was discovered at his after-school drama club[/caption]
He told the BBC: “I was the coolest kid in school because I had to come in like, ‘Guess what, I have to swear and nobody could yell at me, nobody could say anything.
“I have to swear tons all day.”
Rhys, from Heywood, Manchester, played Ryan in all three sets of the series.
But after being pulled out of his after-school drama club to play the role, Rhys had no idea what he was getting into.
He said: ‘I overheard my mum talking to one of her friends once.
“She was like, ‘We have this script and it’s called Happy Valley and I thought, this is going to be a really great kids show.
“Then I opened the script and started reading and thought – this is not a kids show!”
With a seven-year gap between the second and third series, Rhys’ character has now grown up and visits Tommy in prison.
Writer and director Sally Wainwright shared how she wanted to see Ryan grow up before she finished the series.
She said: “The gap was really waiting until Ryan’s character was old enough to have his own program and be [able to have] a thoughtful response to her situation regarding her relationship with Tommy Lee Royce.
Unlike on screen, Rhys got along with actor James Norton right from the first series.
Between takes of the tense narrow boat scenes in the finale, they were making paper airplanes together.
In a break from the series, Rhys also appeared alongside Jodie Comer in The White Princess and the independent film The Runaways.
To prepare for the third series, Rhys took a trip down memory lane by rewatching previous shows.
He said, “I couldn’t bear to see myself.
“When I watched it when I was younger, I would just watch my scenes and go ‘oh look, that’s me, that’s me.
“But looking at it now, I’m just a boring little guy doing everything wrong, messing things up and with a squeaky voice.
“I just look at it like ‘have I always been this boring? “”
Rhys in the finale opposite Sarah Lancashire as Sgt Catherine Cawood[/caption]
