{"id":617901,"date":"2026-09-08T05:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T05:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/617901\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T05:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T05:28:12","slug":"a-happy-valley-reunion-clocking-off-is-sarah-lancashire-siobhan-finnerans-10-10-drama-to-watch-tonight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/617901\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA Happy Valley reunion\u201d: Clocking Off is Sarah Lancashire & Siobhan Finneran\u2019s \u201c10\/10\u201d drama to watch tonight"},"content":{"rendered":"

If a new series of Happy Valley is your idea of TV heaven, you might want to stop what you\u2019re doing. While we sadly can\u2019t conjure up a another instalment, we can offer a Happy Valley reunion (of sorts) by way of Clocking Off, the BBC\u2019s 10\/10 drama that features two of show\u2019s best-loved stars Sarah Lancashire<\/a> and Siobhan Finneran<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The popular series, which originally aired from 2000 to 2003, takes us into the lives of the workers of a Manchester fabric factory. Among them are Yvonne Kolakowski (Sarah Lancashire), an abused mother-of-three, and Julie (Siobhan Finneran), whose bond with a co-worker threatens to stop her starting a new life elsewhere. <\/p>\n

With the series available to binge tonight (or now, if you fancy it), here\u2019s everything you need to know about Clocking Off before you tune in, including the plot, cast and how to watch it. <\/p>\n

What is Clocking Off about?\"woman<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

The drama, which ran for four series on the BBC, centres around the workers of a Manchester fabric factory, with each episode focusing on a different character\u2019s story \u2013 and woes. It\u2019s a fascinating insight into the lives of ordinary people who are hiding hiding tumultuous \u2013 and often troubled – personal lives. The first story, for example, introduces us to family man Stuart Leach (John Simm), who returns home after a year\u2019s absence with total amnesia. <\/p>\n

In episode 2, we meet machinist Yvonne Kolakowski (Sarah Lancashire), a single mum-of-three whose abusive boyfriend throws her out of the house. Among the other main characters are Julie (Siobhan Finneran, pictured below in The Moorside) who is drawn to new factory worker Vicky (Sharon Duce), and factory cook Franny (David Morrissey) who\u2019s when his troubled sister Terri commits suicide.<\/p>\n

\"woman<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Creator and writer Paul Abbott told The Guardian how the idea came from personal experience: \u201cMy mantra for Clocking Off was \u2018extraordinary moments in ordinary people\u2019s lives\u2019, and seeing how realistic I could make that. It was partly inspired by Dekalog, the Krzysztof Kie\u015blowski TV miniseries, pretentiously. I used to work in a factory and you\u2019d find out secrets about people that were just incredible, so it was also inspired by those memories.<\/p>\n

“Initially, it was just called Factory \u2013 it couldn\u2019t have been more socialist \u2013 and the BBC hated the name. They thought it would put people off. Peter Salmon, who was head of BBC One, came up with Clocking Off. To me it sounded like a cop-out, but it absolutely worked because it\u2019s basically: how well do you know the person working next to you?”<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s in the cast of Clocking Off?\"John<\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

The main cast of Clocking Off includes:<\/p>\n

John Simm (Grace<\/a>)Sarah Lancashire (Last Tango in Halifax)Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley)Philip Glenister (Life on Mars)Lesley Sharp (Scott & Bailey)Jack Deam (DCI Banks)Ricky Tomlinson (The Royle Family)David Morrissey (Tip Toe)James Murray (Age Before Beauty)Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda)Robert Pugh (West is West)Nicola Stephenson (The Chase)Pam Ferris (Call the Midwife)Sharon Duce (Big Deal)Ben Crompton (Pramface)Lindsey Coulson (The Level)Christine Tremarco (Deadpoint)Paul Oldham (Boy Meets Girl)Jason Merrells (Cutting It)Diane Parish (Indian Summer)Is Clocking Off any good?\"two<\/p>\n

BBC<\/p>\n

Yes \u2013 in our opinion, it\u2019s one of the best British dramas ever made and we don\u2019t say that lightly. It\u2019s a brilliantly written, brilliantly acted series that was genuinely original for its time and wow, what a cast! The series won a BAFTA for Best Drama series in 2001 and, personally, we think it deserved many more. <\/p>\n

How can I watch Clocking Off?<\/p>\n

All four series of Clocking Off are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer<\/a>. <\/p>\n

What other Sarah Lancashire dramas can I watch now?\"last<\/p>\n

Ben Blackall<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in the mood for something relatable yet heartwarming, we\u2019d recommend Last Tango in Halifax<\/a>. The series tells the story of two 70-somethings, Alan (Derek Jacobi) and Celia (Anne Reid), who reunite in later life and their somewhat dysfunctional families – including Alan\u2019s daughter Gillian (Nicola Walker) and Celia\u2019s daughter Caroline (Sarah). You can watch Last Tango in Halifax on BBC iPlayer<\/a>. For period drama fans, we\u2019d recommend Rose and Maloney<\/a>. Sarah is superb as a hard-drinking, rule-breaking investigator alongside Phil Davis\u2019 Marion Maloney. While Sarah\u2019s Rose smokes, drinks and refuses to conform, Maloney is a cautious, by-the-book investigator. Rose and Maloney is available to watch on Prime Video<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If a new series of Happy Valley is your idea of TV heaven, you might want to stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1578,226358,93,88611,61,60,226359,182179,282],"class_list":["post-617901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc","tag-clocking-off","tag-entertainment","tag-happy-valley","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sarah-lancashire","tag-siobhan-finneran","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}