British TV should reflect the country it's made in, says Happy Valley writer

British television drama needs to stop taking its cues from the US and reflect more of the country in which it is made, according to Sally Wainwright, writer of the hit BBC1 crime drama Happy Valley.

"A lot of British TV now is trying to be cool, and what a lot of people feel is cool is American," Wainwright says in an interview for the Guardian, in which she also discusses Happy Valley's violence, a potential second series and a more brutal alternative ending to the show.

"Rather than trying to be British and look like British television and make British places look cool, they just want to be American." She gives the British detective drama Luther, starring Idris Elba, as an example. "I can't believe in the procedure, I don't believe what they're doing."

Wainwright's use of British police procedure in Happy Valley came as "an absolute novelty and shock" because many British cop dramas follow the US model of policing, said the screenwriter, who also created Scott & Bailey, now shooting its fourth series for ITV.

"I don't know whether it's because writers don't do their own research and just reflect what they see on telly. Most cop drama they see is American and they want to be like the Wire or whatever," she said.

As well as using the Calder Valley of West Yorkshire as a backdrop for her dark and sometimes violent tale of a bungled kidnap, which drew to a close on BBC1 this week, Wainwright also makes use of the striking Yorkshire countryside in her other hit BBC1 show, Last Tango in Halifax, for which she is currently writing a third series.

She now lives in an Oxfordshire village. But the writer, who was born in Halifax and attended York University, says that the Yorkshire setting allows her to create a sense of place and authenticity on screen, which draws viewers into her world. "That's why a lot of American telly affects people, because it has an authenticity," says Wainwright, who counts American shows such as Nurse Jackie among her favourite programmes. "I think that's why Happy Valley has been so successful: it has an authentic feel to it. Surely Breaking Bad has this authentic feel – you absolutely believe this world exists."

By contrast, Wainwright argues, a desire to be something other than British makes some homegrown dramas difficult to watch. "I feel like a lot of [British] cop drama is very misogynistic … it's an instant turn-off for me."

Happy Valley has been one of the BBC's biggest successes this year, regularly pulling in 6.5 million viewers and garnering rave reviews for the performance of Sarah Lancashire in the lead role.

Wainwright says she enjoys writing women. Why wouldn't you put them on screen? "I find women more interesting. They're more heroic. The banality of the day-to-day; the reality of it; coping with the problems on a daily basis. Women seem to have more to deal with."

British drama can still be nationally and internationally successful while retaining its own identity, insists Wainwright, pointing to Russell T Davis's reinvention of Doctor Who. "What I loved about it was that it was British. He didn't try and make it American. It was sci-fi and it was sexy and it was cool, but he made a real point of it being British," she says.

Responding to critics of the violence in Happy Valley, Wainwright said it had been responsibly done because it showed the reality of violence. "It is not just smack your head against the wall and you can jump up five seconds later."