Since the third and final series kicked off on New Year’s Day, I’ve been asking everyone I meet:
“Have you been watching Happy Valley?”
When people say no, my jaw drops. Why would anyone miss the TV event of the year so far, the best thing on the telly, Sarah Lancashire back after a six-year gap to play the iconic Sergeant Catherine Cawood for the last time?
“You haven’t seen any of it? Not even series one?”
“No”
Disbelief turns to envy
And that’s when disbelief turns to envy. Because these people have their whole Happy Valley life ahead of them. Eighteen hours of blistering brilliance. Lucky them.
And lucky you if you’re one of them – if you start right now you might catch up in time for tomorrow night’s episode.
I love cop shows, and Happy Valley is my absolute favourite. From its mighty protagonist to its exquisite weave of family drama, troubled village life, and a criminal world too close to home, I think it’s a work of telly drama genius.
My fantasy dinner party
At my fantasy dinner party, writer/creator Sally Wainwright and Sarah Lancashire would be guests of honour – ideally with the rest of the cast if I had enough chairs.
Before Catherine Cawood came along, my telly cop hero was always Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect, played by Helen Mirren.
When she arrived on screen in the early ’90s, Tennison reinvigorated the genre and blazed a trail for women protagonists across telly drama, just as Sgt. Cawood is doing now.
‘I want to be a telly cop’
In my audition for drama school, I was asked, “What kind of characters would you like to play?”
And without missing a beat, I said, “A telly cop, like Jane Tennison from Prime Suspect”
Well, we can’t all be Dame Helen Mirren, or Queen Sarah Lancashire. But about 20 years later I did finally land a job as a telly cop.
For those unfamiliar with the BBC’s River City, I play Sergeant Lou Caplan, a hot mess lesbian cop whose dodgy police dealings and chaotic love affair with the local ganglord’s daughter land her in no end of trouble.
I’ve been doing it for five years now, and it’s been one of my favourite parts to play, for lots of reasons – one being the uniform.
By pleasing coincidence, my housemate, Sally Reid, is also a telly cop. She plays PC Sarah Fletcher on Scot Squad – lower rank than me but nonetheless, we both know the special thrill of strapping on a stab vest, packing a truncheon, and pretending to know how our police radios work.
We don’t do it at home
When people suddenly see us in all that gear, they jump three feet in the air. And to be honest with you, Sally and I get off on that.
Obviously, we don’t wear police uniforms around the house, or outside of work. That would be weird and illegal.
But we do like to think we could handle a serious incident, make an arrest, wrestle a bam to the ground and taser them – should the need arise.
So, if the acting work dries up, Sally and I can always pivot into the police force proper. I’m sure we’re qualified.
In the meantime, if Sally Wainwright wants to write a show about two Scottish telly cops giving up acting to join the real police force, we’re poised and ready.
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