On this day: Happy Valley begins airing final series on New Year's Day 2023
Three years ago today millions of households across the country sat down to watch the beginning of the end of popular TV series Happy Valley.
After seven years the BBC drama returned for a third and final series that had viewers hooked for weeks.
Following Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, and her life as a police sergeant in Calderdale, the series was created by writer-director Sally Wainwright.
The first series was broadcast in 2014 with episode one of the final series airing nine years later on January 1, 2023.
The synopsis for series three read: “When Catherine discovers the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, it sparks a chain of events that leads her straight back to Tommy Lee Royce [James Norton]. Her grandson, Ryan [Rhys Connah], is now sixteen and has ideas of his own about the kind of relationship he wants to have with the man Catherine refuses to acknowledge as his father, leaving Catherine’s sister Clare [Siobhan Finneran] caught in the middle.”
Ahead of the final series, Sally said that the third season would always be the last and explained why she waited years between seasons two and three.
She said: “I waited six years because I wanted to get to a point where Ryan would be old enough to start making choices about whether he wanted to have a relationship with his dad or not. And could he have a relationship with his dad, and how would Catherine feel about that?
"We always said this would be the final season and it is very definitely is the final season.”
The series filmed at locations across Calderdale including in Hebden Bridge, Halifax town centre, Boothtown and Sowerby Bridge.
The final ever episode of Happy Valley had a combined viewership of 12.1 million viewers.
The reaction to the final episode from fans of the show was overwhelmingly positive and was named the third best BBC series finale of all time according to IMDb users.
Reacting to the finale one reader said: “Happy Valley. Wow. That wasn’t the ending I was expecting, but it was phenomenal.”
Another reader said: “Couldn’t have written a better more perfect ending - Sarah Lancashire deserves every award going.”