Last Tango in Halifax Returns to KCTS 9 for a Final Season

The wait is over! After a three-year hiatus, the beloved series Last Tango in Halifax is back on KCTS for its fourth and final season, airing Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m.. This fabulous series features acclaimed actors Derek Jacobi as Alan Buttershaw and Anne Reid as Celia Dawson. The story begins when Alan and Celia – who lost touch as teenagers in the 1950s – are reunited after they find each other on Facebook. They begin a wonderful new romance, but things get complicated with their families – especially Celia’s daughter Caroline (played by Sarah Lancashire) and Alan’s daughter Gillian (played by Nicola Walker). 

Sally Wainwright Tells a Personal Story

The series was created by Sally Wainwright, the award-winning television writer who penned such series as Unforgiven, Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey, Gentleman Jack and To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters, to name just a few. 

Although series like Unforgiven and Happy Valley depict the grittier side of life, the inspiration for Last Tango in Halifax came from Wainwright’s own family. Her widowed mother, Dorothy, rediscovered a lost love through the British social networking site Friends Reunited, and remarried. With Dorothy’s approval, Wainwright developed the story and turned it into a television series script. The series was originally turned down by the BBC, but later accepted – and it would go on win numerous awards, including the BAFTA Best Drama Series for 2012, with Wainwright named that year’s Best Writer.

An Answer to Ageism – and Homophobia

What makes the series so special? The story depicts a realistic, positive image of mature adults, affirming that romance is possible at any age. In their 70s, Alan and Celia are intelligent, active and fully engaged in contemporary life. The Telegraph called the series “a triumph against TV’s ageism.” There is also a lot of joy and humor in the series as two distinct families, with different backgrounds and life experiences, come together to support Alan and Celia.  

Through Caroline, the series also explores LGBTQ themes. Celia struggles when her daughter enters into a same sex relationship and later comes out to her. In a 2013 interview with the website AfterEllen, Anne Reid spoke positively of the storyline, acknowledging that many people of her generation can be homophobic. She felt that her own character “might show them [and] might change them” – in the same way that Celia learns to be more accepting of Caroline.

Yorkshire: The Countryside, the Accents!

The story is set in the beautiful Yorkshire countryside, with scenes on Alan’s farm in Halifax reminiscent of the setting of All Creatures Great and Small. (A remake of that wonderful series is coming to KCTS 9 in January!) As a London East Ender, Nicola Walker initially believed that she would not get the part of Gillian, due to a lack of confidence in her Yorkshire accent – and the presence of northern actresses in the audition. But her accent, and the accent of fellow-Londoner Derek Jacobi, both sound completely natural.

The Cast: The Best of the Best

The real magic of the series is the wonderful acting.  Discussing the casting of Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid with The Telegraph, Wainwright said, “We went for the best and we got them.” The full cast has, among them, an astonishing list of movies, television series, and theater productions to their credit. They have worked, separately and together, on some of the most acclaimed shows in British television history. 

KCTS 9 viewers have a long history with Derek Jacobi. Although in the U.K. he is best known for his work in the theater, many of us in the U.S. were introduced to Jacobi when he starred as the Roman emperor in I, Claudius, the iconic 1976 Masterpiece Theatre series, or as Cadfael, a mystery series that aired in the mid-1990s.  More recently, he played Stuart Bixby in the comedy Vicious (alongside Ian McKellen) and, in 2019, he played Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, in the third season of the critically acclaimed Netflix series The Crown.

Viewers will recognize Anne Reid from her recent role as Lady Denham in this year’s Masterpiece series Sanditon. She starred as Lucy Mottershead in the BBC series Our Zoo, which aired on KCTS 9 in 2018. Other credits include Upstairs, Downstairs (2010-2012), Jane Eyre (2006) and Bleak House (2005), as well as guest roles in such series as Poirot, Miss Marple, Midsomer Murders, New Tricks and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. She also appeared as Ethel, the mother of James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne), in the 2019 film The Aeronauts.

Sarah Lancashire is another familiar face to KCTS 9 viewers. Her remarkable range as an actor is evidenced by the diverse roles she has played, in programs from period dramas such as Lark Rise to Candleford, The Paradise and Upstairs, Downstairs to grittier contemporary fare such as Happy Valley. 

Beyond Last Tango, Nicola Walker is probably best known for her role as DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten, a cold-case mystery currently in production with its fourth season. She also appeared as Helen Bartlett in Scott & Bailey (2013) and as DI Susan Taylor in Touching Evil (starring alongside Grantchester’s Robson Green) from 1997-1999. Eagle-eyed viewers may even remember a very young Nicola Walker as a member of the “Frightful Folk Duo” in the classic 1994 film Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Checking In with Old Friends

Great writing by Sally Wainwright, plus great acting from an ensemble of amazing actors: it’s the recipe for a series that the Los Angeles Times hailed as “the best new show of the fall.” Now entering its final season, The Guardian recently said, “This is warm and welcoming drama and, despite its long-ish absence, its characters feel instantly familiar again. To pick it up after three years is like checking in with old friends.”

The final season of Last Tango in Halifax airs on Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. on KCTS 9. Watch Last Tango in Halifax now. 

Can’t get enough of writer Sally Wainwright and these wonderful actors? Some of the shows mentioned in this feature, including Sanditon, Unforgotten and To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters, are available to watch online right now with KCTS 9 Passport. Not a member yet? Sign up today!