I’ve been in Happy Valley since I was 8 – all my classmates were jealous of me for surprising reason, says Rhys Connah

HAPPY Valley teen actor Rhys Connah has played the role of Ryan Cawood for almost a decade of his life.

The now 16-year-old confesses he was the envy of his classmates when he first starred in the BBC drama aged just eight - and not because of the show’s BAFTA wins.

He told the BBC: “I was the coolest kid in school because I got to walk in like, ‘Guess what, I got to swear and no-one could shout at me, no-one could say anything.

"I got to swear loads all day.’”

Rhys, from Heywood, Manchester, has played Ryan in all three series of the show.

But after being plucked from his after school drama club to play the role, Rhys had no idea what he was getting into.

He said: “I overheard my mum speaking once to one of her friends.

“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.

"Then I opened the script and I started reading and I thought - this is not a kids’ show!’”

With a seven-year gap between the second and third series, Rhys’s character is now grown up and visits Tommy in prison.

Writer and director Sally Wainwright told how she wanted to see Ryan grow up before finishing the series.

She said: “The gap really was about waiting for the character of Ryan to be old enough to have his own agenda, and be [able to have] a thoughtful response to his situation regarding his relationship with Tommy Lee Royce.”

Unlike on screen, Rhys hit it off with actor James Norton right from series one.

In between takes of the tense narrowboat scenes in the finale, they would make paper planes together.

In a hiatus from the show, Rhys has also appeared alongside Jodie Comer in The White Princess and indie film The Runaways.

To prepare for series three, Rhys took a trip down memory lane by rewatching the earlier shows.

He said: “I couldn’t stand the sight of myself.

"When I watched it when I was younger I just watched my scenes and I’d go ‘oh, look, it’s me, it’s me’.

“But watching it now, I’m just some tiny, little, annoying guy who does everything wrong, messes it all up and with a squeaky voice.

"I’m just watching it like ‘was I always that annoying?’”