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Simon Duke

Happy Valley's Poppy coat 'mystery' solved off screen as finale leaves fans left wanting answers

It's the question many fans wanted the answer to going into Happy Valley's finale and, after it was left unanswered in the last episode, the mystery of why Poppy never takes her coat off has been explained, by another cast member.

While the focus of the last series of the BBC drama has been very much on the stormy feud between Catherine Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce, there was a sub plot involving Poppy's dad. teacher Rob Hepworth and his wife Joanna, who became hooked on prescription pills and was shopped to the police by her husband, before being killed by corrupt pharmacist Faisal Bhatti.

The couple's two daughters witnessed a lot of the tension between their parents and the aftermath of Rob calling the police on Joanna and her disappearance, with her body eventually being found in a suitcase.

READ MORE: BBC's Happy Valley ending divides viewers as death confirmed in final seconds

And one thing many viewers continued to pick up on was the fact that Poppy always had her coat on, even in the house. In the days that leading up to Sunday's Happy Valley finale viewers had a major theory on the reason behind it, strongly suggesting that it was because the little one was covered in bruises after being abused by father Rob.

As Happy Valley ended with no explanation as to why, instead seeing Rob arrested for trying to blkackmail a student with incriminating photos, many fans flocked to Twitter seeking answers, with some still annoyed on Monday moirning.

One reacted: "All questions answered apart from WHY DIDNT THE GIRL TAKE OFF HER COAT?!?" with another tweeting: "OMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHY WOULDNT ROB & JOANNAS DAUGHTER TAKE HER COAT OFF it’s been bugging me all f**king season"

Well now they've arrived from someone very much in the know, actress Mollie Winnard, who played Poppy's late mother Joanna.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Mollie explained: "It’s actually a trauma thing, so it’s a (protective) layer. The coat is definitely to protect (herself) because of what she’s living in, the environment that she’s living in. She doesn’t want to take her coat off.’

The Happy Valley finale proved to be a really divisive topic on Twitter. After a final showdown between Catherine and Tommy ended with him setting himself on fire, Catherine got a text right before credits rolled to say he'd died in hospital. While some fans applauded the superb acting in the episode, others wanted more from the ending, after three series of high drama.

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