Sally Wainwright facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sally Wainwright
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Wainwright in 2018
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Sally Anne Wainwright
1963 (age 61–62) Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
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| Education | University of York |
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| Years active | 1991–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Austin Sherlaw-Johnson (m. 1990)
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| Children | 2 |
Sally Anne Wainwright OBE (born in 1963) is a famous English television writer, producer, and director. She is well-known for her TV shows, which are often set in her home area of West Yorkshire. These shows often feature "strong female characters." People really like Sally Wainwright's writing because her dialogue sounds very real.
Sally started her career writing for a radio show called The Archers. In the 1990s, she also worked on popular TV soap operas like Emmerdale and Coronation Street. Her first original TV drama, At Home with the Braithwaites, was on TV from 2000 to 2003. Later, she became very successful with shows like Unforgiven (2009). For this show, she won an award for Writer of the Year.
Her other popular works include Scott & Bailey (2011–2016), Last Tango in Halifax (2012–2020), Happy Valley (2014–2023), and Gentleman Jack (2019–2022). Last Tango in Halifax won a big award for Best Drama Series in 2013. Happy Valley won the same award in both 2015 and 2017.
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Early Life and Dreams
Sally Wainwright was born in 1963 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. She grew up in Sowerby Bridge. She went to Triangle Church of England Primary School and Sowerby Bridge High School. Later, she studied English at the University of York. She has one sister.
Sally always knew she wanted to write. She started writing when she was just nine years old. Her big dream was to write for the TV show Coronation Street. When she was 16, she saw a play that really impressed her. It had short sentences and dialogue that sounded like real conversations. This inspired her writing style.
Starting Her Career
While at the University of York, Sally wrote a play called Hanging On. She took it to the Edinburgh Festival, which is a big arts event. There, she found an agent to help her with her writing. At the same time, she worked as a bus driver.
When she was 24, she stopped driving buses. She began writing for the radio show The Archers. One of her stories for the show was about a village shop being robbed. This was a bit unusual for the show. After that, she wrote for Coronation Street from 1994 to 1999. She learned a lot about writing by working on these long-running shows. She said it taught her that "great stories are hard work."
A writer named Kay Mellor encouraged Sally to stop writing for soap operas. Kay told her to focus on creating her own original shows. Sally then created At Home with the Braithwaites. This TV series was about a woman who secretly won the lottery. The show was nominated for many awards. In 2006, Sally wrote Jane Hall. This series was about a woman bus driver in London. Sally used her own experiences as a bus driver to write the show.
Award-Winning Shows
In 2009, Sally won the Writer of the Year Award from the RTS. She won it for her show Unforgiven. This show also won several other awards, including best TV series.
Sally says that the strong female characters in her shows feel "almost real" to her. She feels they just appear "fully formed" in her imagination. She likes to be in charge of how her TV shows are made. She has directed and produced some of her own work. This helps her make sure the scenery and dialogue truly show Yorkshire.
In 2011, she wrote Scott & Bailey. This series was about two female police officers. The idea for the show came from actresses Suranne Jones and Sally Lindsay. A former police detective, Diane Taylor, also helped bring the show to life.
Sally based her show Last Tango in Halifax on her own mother's story. Her mother became a widow in 2001. She moved to Oxfordshire and reconnected with a lost love through a website. With her mother's permission, Sally turned this story into a TV series. She even showed parts of the series to her mother before it aired.
When Sally told this story to Nicola Shindler, Nicola suggested making it into a TV series. Nicola became the executive producer for the show. Both Last Tango in Halifax and Scott & Bailey were first turned down by TV channels. But they were later accepted and became very popular. Last Tango in Halifax was voted best series by BAFTA in 2012. Sally also won an award for best writer.
Happy Valley was filmed in Yorkshire's Upper Calder Valley and Hebden Bridge. The show stars Sarah Lancashire. Sally had Sarah in mind when she wrote the main character. Sally also directed episode 4 of the first series. She has said she was willing to write a third series of Happy Valley. However, she had other projects to work on. The third series finally aired on January 1, 2023. The last episode was shown on February 5, 2023.
In 2016, Sally Wainwright became a Fellow of the Royal Television Society. This is a special honor.
Sally wrote and directed a two-hour TV drama called To Walk Invisible. It was shown on BBC One in 2016. This show was about the Brontë family, who were famous writers. It focused on the three sisters, Anne, Emily, and Charlotte, and their brother, Branwell. Sally was very excited to bring the lives of these "fascinating, talented, ingenious Yorkshire women" to the screen.
In 2019, Sally's show Gentleman Jack premiered. It was shown on BBC One in the UK and HBO in the US. This drama is about a 19th-century Yorkshire landowner and diarist named Anne Lister. Suranne Jones plays Anne Lister, and Sophie Rundle plays Ann Walker.
Her new show, Renegade Nell, is an adventure story about a highwaywoman. It started streaming on Disney+ in March 2024. In 2024, filming began for her series Riot Women. This show is about a group of women in Yorkshire who form a band.
Personal Life
Sally Wainwright lives in Oxfordshire. She is married to Ralph "Austin" Sherlaw-Johnson. He buys and sells old sheet music. His father was a composer and pianist. Sally and Austin have two sons. As of 2023, they also have a Maine Coon cat. Sally says it's the biggest cat in the world!
Sally Wainwright received an award called Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2020. She got this honor for her great work in writing and television.
Awards and Recognitions
Sally Wainwright has won many awards for her amazing work. Here are some of them:
- 2003: Best Short Drama at Banff Festival for The Wife of Bath's Tale
- 2009: RTS Awards, Best Drama Serial for Unforgiven
- 2011: RTS North West Awards, Best Writer for Scott & Bailey
- 2013: Sky WFTV Awards, Technicolor Writing Award
- 2013: BAFTA TV Craft Awards, Best Drama Writer
- 2013: BAFTA TV Craft Awards, Best Drama Series for Last Tango in Halifax
- 2014: Broadcast Awards, Best Drama Series for Happy Valley
- 2014: British Screenwriters’ Awards, Best British TV Drama Writing for Happy Valley
- 2014: Crime Thriller Awards, Best TV Series for Happy Valley
- 2014: TV Choice Awards, Best New Drama for Happy Valley
- 2015: Broadcasting Press Guild Awards, Best Drama Writer
- 2015: BAFTA TV Craft Awards, Best Drama Writer
- 2015: Edgar Allan Poe Awards, Best Television Episode for Happy Valley (episode 1)
- 2015: WGGB Awards, Best Long Form TV Drama for Happy Valley
- 2015: Edinburgh TV Awards, Best Programme of the year for Happy Valley
- 2015: BAFTA Awards, Best Drama Series for Happy Valley
- 2017: RTS Programme Awards, Best Drama Writer for Happy Valley
- 2017: RTS Programme Awards, Judges' Award
- 2017:BAFTA Awards, Best Drama Series for Happy Valley
- 2017: BAFTA TV Craft Awards, Best Drama Writer for 'Happy Valley'
- 2020: Royal Television Society Awards, Best Drama Series Winner for 'Gentleman Jack'
- 2020: Freedom of The Borough of Calderdale
- 2020: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to Writing and Television.
Images for kids
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Sally Wainwright in 2018
