New BBC One series from Happy Valley writer Sally Wainwright announced

A new drama is coming to BBC One from the writer of Happy Valley, Sally Wainwright.

Sally Wainwright will make another return to our TV screens with her new six-part drama Hot Flush following the hugely successful Happy Valley.

The new series was announced by director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, at the Edinburgh TV Festival and will be available to watch on BBC One and iPlayer.

Set in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, Hot Flush centres on the lives of five women ‘of a certain age’ who come together to create a makeshift, butt-of-the-joke punk-rock band in order to enter a talent contest.

But when they rehearse together they suddenly discover that they have a lot more to say than they ever imagined, and this is the way to say it.

From the Doctor Foster producers Drama Republic, the series follows the women as they deal with demanding jobs, grown-up children who still eat up their energy, dependent parents, husbands who’ve let them down and the menopause.

The band becomes a catalyst for change in the women’s lives, and it’s going to make them question everything.

As the plot progresses, it’s more than just the music that binds them. 

A deeply potent, long-buried secret connects Kitty and Beth, the two unlikely creative masterminds behind the band, and it’s a secret that could tear everything apart.

Sally Wainwright, writer and executive producer, said: “I’ve been wanting to write a series like this for a long time. It’s a celebration of women of a certain age, and all the life-stuff they suddenly find themselves negotiating/dealing with. 

“The show is also my own personal homage to Rock Follies of ’77, and the feisty Little Ladies who woke me up to what I wanted to do with my life when I was 13. 

“I’m thrilled to be working with Charlotte again at the BBC, looking forward hugely to working with Lindsay, and utterly delighted to (finally!) be working with Roanna again at Drama Republic.”

Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, said: “We’re so excited to have the magnificent Sally Wainwright back writing on the BBC, with the brilliant Drama Republic team producing.

“Hot Flush is a sharply observed, vibrant and vital story of five very different women at the same stage in their lives, joined together by their love of music.

“But that’s just the start and – as you’d expect from Sally – there are twists and turns aplenty to keep viewers enthralled.”