Sally Wainwright is a television writer, producer and director from Yorkshire. She was appointed an OBE in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to writing and television.
Sally started her writing career with a stage play called HANGING ON at Edinburgh Festival. She then started writing for the Radio 4 series THE ARCHERS, followed by five years writing for CORONATION STREET. She created her first original drama series AT HOME WITH THE BRAITHWAITES in 2000 which ran for 4 series. This was followed by a 3-parter SPARKHOUSE, a six part series THE AMAZING MRS PRITCHARD, and a further 6-parter called JANE HALL.
In 2009 she won the RTS Writer of the Year Award for a three part drama called UNFORGIVEN starring Suranne Jones. Sally is known for her creation of the drama series SCOTT & BAILEY followed by LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX (which won BAFTA Best Drama Series 2013) and HAPPY VALLEY (BAFTA Best Drama Series/Broadcast Awards/Crime Thriller Awards/TV Choice Awards/ WGGB Awards/Edinburgh TV Awards 2015, and BAFTA Best Drama Series /RTS Judges Award 2017). Sally has won numerous awards for her writing, including the Best Drama Writer Award by BAFTA in 2013 for LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX, and in 2015 and 2017 for HAPPY VALLEY. She also received the Best Drama Writer Award at the Broadcasting Press Guild Awards in 2015, and the RTS Best Drama Writer Award in 2017, again for HAPPY VALLEY.
In 2016 Sally wrote and directed a 2-hour drama for BBC1 called TO WALK INVISIBLE: THE BRONTE SISTERS. She wrote and executive produced an 8-part drama for the BBC called GENTLEMAN JACK, about the extraordinary Yorkshire landowner diarist and traveller Anne Lister who kept diaries of her daily life including her lesbian relationships. It won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama Series in 2020. Sally also directed 4 of the episodes.
Sally wrote and Executive Produced the fifth series of LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX which was transmitted in 2020. She wrote and Executive Produced the second series of GENTLEMAN JACK which was transmitted in 2022, and the third series of HAPPY VALLEY, which was aired to much acclaim in January 2023 with consolidated audience figures of 13.2m. In 2024, Sally created an original 8-part historical fantasy drama RENEGADE NELL for Lookout Point/Disney+. Sally’s new series RIOT WOMEN is coming soon to BBC One, BBC iPlayer and Britbox, starring Joanna Scanlan, Lorraine Ashorne, Tamsin Greig, Amelia Bullmore and Rosalie Craig.