Happy Valley’s Daniel Cawood star Karl Davies’ real life – from Emmerdale fans attacking him to gay following – Yorkshire Live

Happy Valley’s has returned to our screens for its third and final series following an almost seven year hiatus and viewers were delighted to see original cast members back on the show.

The hit BBC crime drama follows Sergeant Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, who leads a police team in Calderdale. There have been two series of the BBC programme with it last being on our screens in 2016.

Among the stars appearing on the show is Karl Davies, who is back playing the role of Daniel Cawood, Catherine’s son, while Sarah Lancashire returns as Sergeant Catherine Cawood for one last case.

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Karl has starred in Happy Valley from the very first series back in 2014, initially his relationship with his mother was strained following the suicide of his late sister Becky Cawood, which resulted in Catherine having a mental breakdown.

In series one Daniel was married to Lucy and expecting a baby and refused to speak to his mother. However, following the breakdown of his marriage he turned to Catherine for help and subsequently managed to rebuild their relationship.

Daniel has returned once more for series three and this time we see him in a much better place, he is now in a relationship with Ann Gallagher, whom he met through his mother.

But how much does we know about Daniel Caewood actor Karl Davies and where have you seen him before?

Who is Daniel Cawood actor Karl Davies?

Karl Davies is an English actor, and voice actor, he has had a very successful acting career and has appeared in many well known shows including Emmerdale, Kingdom, Fat Friends, The Bill, Misomer Murders, Game of Thrones, The Syndicate, The Bay, The Tower, Call The Midwife and Chernobyl to name a few.

Prior to becoming a professional actor Davies enjoyed extreme sports and competed in climbing competitions as a teen but never pursued this further than local competitions at a junior level.

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He has expressed a love of extreme sports such as snowboarding and skiing. During his time on Emmerdale he publicly stated that he was prevented from participating in these activities by the producers.

His only real exception to this was as part of the annual charity fund-raising event in Inverurie where he was allowed to go wing walking on a biplane, an experience he said he greatly enjoyed.

Who did Karl Davies play in Emmerdale?

Karl Davies took over the role of Robert Sugden in ITV’s Emmerdale in August 2001. The change in actor allowed the character to be developed and he soon became involved in a number of controversial storylines, most involving a long running feud with his adoptive brother Andy Sugden.

He also became known for a number of romantic storylines, with Robert having an increasing number of sexual partners including Donna Windsor, Andy’s wife Katie Sugden and 15-year-old Debbie Dingle, the mother of Andy’s daughter.

The character’s final romantic storyline involved an affair with the married Sadie King, played by Patsy Kensit. This storyline received media attention when Kensit reportedly objected to a relationship with a younger actor.

Kensit clarified the reasons in an interview with Leeds Today News stating “When I first heard about the storyline, I said ‘but he looks like one of James’s friends, so boyish and young’. But Karl is so adorable and we had a lot of fun filming those scenes”.

For his final and highly publicised storyline it was made clear to the media weeks in advance that either Robert, Andy or local vet Max King would be killed in an explosive road accident. It was in fact Max who died when Robert drove his car at him and Andy, Robert then fled the village to avoid being apprehended.

Actor Karl has since revealed that his role in Emmerdale led to much greater public recognition and that the reaction from fans during his time on the show was mixed. He admitted he has been insulted and slapped in the street by strangers who have been unable to tell him from the character he played.

Simultaneously, he developed a following amongst gay viewers and received a lot of fan mail from male viewers.

Karl Davies relationship with his on-screen mum Sarah Lancashire

Karl Davies appeared on Morning Live where he told presenters Gethin Jones and Sam Quek about his close relationship with his co-star Sarah Lancashire, who plays his on-screen mother in the BBC drama.

Gethin noted: “It is interesting, you and Sarah Lancashire, both have a soap background. I mean Sarah was Raquel in Coronation Street, this is a slightly different role. Obviously you are a fan because you have one picture in your house and that is Sarah Lancashire.”

Pointing to the photo behind him, Karl laughed: “I’ve done it especially, I wanted her to be here!” Gethin continued: “A quick word on her, she is brilliant isn’t she?”

Karl praised: “Yeah! Obviously, both being from a soap background, I think it’s, that’s a huge training ground for any sort of drama. And you are doing 17 pages a day on a soap, and here we are doing sort of six, we are filming six pages so, it should be a lot easier.

“But certainly for Sarah, as you can see there it is definitely not an easy job! Yeah, she has to work hard for this one, but incredible.”

Speaking of the tense confrontation between Catherine and Clare in last weeks episode, Karl said: “It is a tribute to Sarah, Siobhan and Sally [Wainwright’s] writing for the most dramatic scene in a series that is about crime and violence. As they are having a cup of tea and is Siobhan ever going to finish that mouthful of sandwich.”

Happy Valley airs Sunday from 9pm on BBC One.

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