WRITER, producer and director of hit television series including Gentleman Jack and Last Tango In Halifax, Sally Wainwright has been honoured with the highest award Calderdale can give.

On Wednesday she was granted the Freedom of the Borough at Halifax Town Hall in a room packed with guests including family members and friends dating back to her days at Sowerby Bridge Grammar School.

She said she was thrilled to receive the accolade from Mayor of Calderdale Coun Dot Foster.

“It’s wonderful. It’s been a really special evening and I have really enjoyed it,” she said.

And she paid tribute to Anne Lister, the real life 19th century heiress, businesswoman and lesbian, whose diaries were inspiration for Gentleman Jack, the hit BBC drama starring Suranne Jones, screened last summer and with a second series in preparation.

Last Tango in Halifax could "run and run" says writer

She was also surprised by tributes recorded at a recent Calderdale premiere of the new series of Last Tango In Halifax by stars Derek Jacobi, Nicola Walker and Sarah Lancashire, Sarah also starring in a third hit drama based in Calderdale, the hard-hitting Happy Valley, and screened in a special short film to end the official part of the evening.

Calderdale Choir sang Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow’s theme from the Gentleman Jack series and the musicians were among the guests.

Deputy Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire Chris Harris – founding director of the Community Foundation for Calderdale – said Sally followed others who had made a special contribution to the borough, sprinkling her own magic dust on Halifax.

Calderdale Council’s Chief Executive Robin Tuddenham, who had proposed the writer for the award, agreed by the full Calderdale Council last November, spoke about the impact her dramas had on people, recalling a story where a visiting journalist had been astounded when, while researching a feature, lesbian women from all over the world had written or spoken to her about the positive impact Gentleman Jack had on their lives.

Leader of Calderdale Council, Coun Tim Swift (Lab, Town) said the success of Sally’s Calderdale-set series, and Gentleman Jack in particular, had benefitted Calderdale’s economy, boosting tourism shown by increasing numbers visiting the borough’s businesses, museums, hotels and with other events based around it and Anne Lister.

They were stories, he said, “which have caught the imagination and raised the profile of Calderdale on an international scale.”

Famously, the Freedom of Calderdale honour brings with it the right to herd sheep through the centre of Halifax – and sheep on the loose have featured in both Last Tango In Halifax and Happy Valley.

Sally said: “I did ask Nicola Walker if I could borrow her pretend sheep and drive them through the borough of Calderdale and she was more than happy for me to do so!”