Matt Lewis in “Happy Valley”

News on Matt Lewis’s (Neville Longbottom) new role in BBC One’s popular dramatic TV series, Happy Valley, is starting to emerge. Radio Times gave insight into the second season of Happy Valley, which is to make its season premiere next week, February 9, at 9:00 PM.

We’ve noticed that new mustache on Matt’s up lip, and it has already made its appearance in his role as Sgt. Drum Drummond in Ripper Street. Pictures released by Radio Times show that the ‘stache is staying, and will also star as apart of Matt’s character in Happy Valley.

Matt is joining the Happy Valley cast with another face that is familiar to Harry Potter fans. Shirley Henderson, who plays Moaning Myrtle in the Harry Potter series, will be joining ranks with the killer Sarah Lancashire’s Catherine Cawood is hunting for. Matt will be playing a character named Sean Balmforth.

Not much is known about Matt’s character, Sean Balmforth. The BBC recently released an extended media pack full of interviews with the cast, including Matt, who offered a little insight into his new character. The BBC interviews reported:

“Q: How would you describe your character?

“A: Sean has had a bad start in life and it’s defined him in ways that are out of his control. He’s not an alcoholic, as in he doesn’t need it to function but he is well on his way to becoming one. He’s angry and lost and finds it difficult to express his emotions which when coupled with his drinking can become a tinderbox.

“Q: Was your character challenging to play?

“A: It was tough to get into his mind. I can’t say too much without giving away parts of the story that we will discover along the way with Sean but he’s in a very dark place and it gets worse for him throughout. Getting into the mind of somebody like that with those problems and those thought processes was daunting. Luckily I had a superb cast and crew around to help out.”

Matt talked of his experiences on set, why he chose to take on this roll in Happy Valley, and being able to watch and learn from the show’s the two leading ladies.

“Q: What appealed to you about this project?

“A: Sally Wainwright and Sarah Lancashire. I hadn’t seen the first series until after I’d been cast but I knew the sheer talent involved in the project and how successful the first series had been. I’d worked with Sarah and Siobhan Finneran about 20 years previous and the chance to do that again was amazing. The opportunity to work with Sally and the complexity of the character she had created meant I couldn’t say no even if I wanted to.

“Q: Are there any anecdotes you can tell us about that happened during filming?

“A: There was a wonderful moment off set when the crew were setting up and Sarah and Siobhan were talking about a big scene they had coming up in a few days. Sarah half knew it and Siobhan hadn’t really looked at it. They decided to run it together and I feel so fortunate that I was there to watch it. It was a big scene, about ten pages or something and after about 4 or 5 pages Siobhan had gotten as far as she’d prepared. Sarah kept going and so Siobhan basically guessed what her character would say in the situation and it just fit. Every single time it fit and Sarah had a cue and was able to keep going with her dialogue. It was mind-blowing, they inhabit their characters so well and they work off each other like real sisters. It was such a pleasure to watch. I wasn’t there for the actual shooting of the scene a few days later but I bet it was a corker.”

 

As to the other Matt Lewis film and tv appearances we can look forward too,

“I shot a film for Warner Brothers called Me Before You a few months before Happy Valley so that’ll be out in 2016 and I’ve just finished a new season of Ripper Street which is also on in 2016. Filming on the next season of that starts late January so I’m growing my 19th century sideburns and moustache back as we speak.”

More on Happy Valley, including an interview with Shirley Henderson as she discusses her character, can be seen in the media pack, here, and on the Happy Valley BBC program web page, here. Thanks to MuggleNet for reporting the scoop. The trailer released for Happy Valley can be seen below.