"I Really Don't Want To Be A Police Officer!"

The long-awaited final series of award-winning drama Happy Valley is under way. We chat to its star, Sarah Lancashire

- JIM MALONEY 

Hardened and weary cop Catherine Cawood is looking towards retirement. But will her nemesis, psychopath and rapist Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), father of her grandson, ever let that be a peaceful one?

Six years on and her grandson, Ryan (Rhys Connah) is now 16, beginning to make his own decisions in life and wanting to get to know his father better. But Catherine has growing concerns about his bad behaviour and is haunted by the thought that he might tum out like his father.

"People have been asking me for years if there will be a third series. It was all down to Sally Wainwright finding time to write it," says Sarah (58).

The show has been one of the most popular in TV drama history, but Sarah admits that she began to worry when they started filming the very first episode back in 2013.

"For the first three or four weeks I kept saying, 'I'm wrong for this role, you've made a mistake.' I couldn't find a way of feeling comfortable - I just felt like an actor in a uniform. I was scared the accent was coming across as too bored.

"Maybe it was because I was slightly stepping away from my comfort zone that I never really felt comfortable with her - and that was probably a good thing in retrospect."

Fortunately, Sarah was persuaded that all was well and when she watched that first episode, she knew her fears were unwarranted.

"I thought it was terrific. The characters and story were so engaging and really captured people's imagination. I also think that the production value is very high on this."