Happy Valley will bow out after three series with an extended finale, as the BBC braces itself for what will surely be one of the most watched TV shows of the year and fans get 10 minutes of extra action.
It was back in 2014, that the world was first introduced to Sarah Lancashire's now iconic character, Catherine Cawood, as the former Coronation Street star took on a role a million miles away from Rovers Return barmaid Raquel.
No nonsense cop Catherine quickly established herself as a character not to be messed with, as she tried to juggle some serious trouble both on the beat and at home. And the cause of much of that? Arch nemesis Tommy Lee Royce, the villain who raped and impregnated her daughter Becky, with Becky later killing herself after giving birth to son Ryan.
Tommy was thrown behind bars in series one, after kidnapping Ann Gallagher and murdering Catherine's colleague Kirsten Macaskill, but not before nearly killing Catherine in a horrifying assault. The sworn enemies then came face to face with each other at Tommy's mum's funeral at the start of series 2, as he attempted to get closer to Ryan from prison, as a woman who visited him in prison posed as a classroom assistant at the youngster' school
Series three, which launched on New Year's Day, is set years later, with Catherine on the brink of retirement. And the action went up ten fold at the end of episode four, when Tommy escaped from court and cycled off to freedom, setting things up for a final showdown with Catherine, as he ended up making contact with Ryan during an online video game, asking the teenager to consider going on the run to Marbella with him.
The sixth episode of Happy Valley's third and final series will air on BBC One on Sunday, February 5 and it has now been confirmed that it will last 68 minutes, giving fans an extra 10 minutes of drama, as it is down in TV guides to run from 9-10.10pm.
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