BBC's 'Happy Valley' Renewed for Second Season

The news comes just as the gritty U.K. crime drama prepares for a U.S. launch on Netflix

The BBC's hard-hitting crime drama Happy Valley is set to return for a second season.

Producers said Monday that BAFTA winner Sally Wainwright's popular series — becoming available to U.S. audiences on Netflix later this week — will hit screens for a second time in 2015, with production to begin earlier in the year.

The first six-part series of Happy Valley followed Sarah Lancashire's police sergeant Catherine Cawood as she investigated a kidnap in a small British country town while still coming to terms with the suicide of her daughter. Its finale scored a 92.5 rating in the U.K. after averaging more than 7 million weekly viewers.

"Sally created a truly magnificent series with very real, complex characters, an engaging plot and breathtaking storyline," executive producer Nicola Shindler said in a statement. "I am delighted that we will be able to delve deeper into Catherine's world in series two."

BBC One controller Charlotte Moore described the first run of Happy Valley as "visceral, emotional and provocative from beginning to end."

"The series is testimony to the ambition, quality and breadth of original British drama on BBC One, and I can't wait for the second series to return," she added in the statement.

Wainwright is currently working on the third series of Last Tango in Halifax, also for BBC One and starring Sarah Lancashire.