Sarah Lancashire’s Sergeant Catherine Cawood is back on the trail of murderer and sex offender Tommy Lee Royce, played by James Norton, in the trailer for the third and final series of Happy Valley.
The hit BBC show, set in West Yorkshire, is returning in the New Year after a seven-year hiatus.
Created by Sally Wainwright, the six-episode series will see Catherine discover the remains of a gangland murder victim in a drained reservoir, sparking a chain of events leading back to her former nemesis.
The tense 90-second trailer, set to the song Atmosphere by Joy Division, shows Catherine preparing for retirement.
However, she is thrust back into an investigation when she discovers news about Tommy.
Norton is seen continuing his campaign of terror with a gaping and stitched-up cut across his forehead.
Catherine’s grandson, Ryan (Rhys Connah), is now sixteen and has ideas of his own about the kind of relationship he wants to have with Tommy – the man Catherine refuses to acknowledge as his father.
He is seen saying: “I get it’s complicated, but he’s my dad.”
Meanwhile, Catherine’s sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) finds herself caught in the middle.
Both series one and two won the Baftas for drama series and writing, while Lancashire won the leading actress prize for the second series.
Happy Valley returns at 9pm on January 1 2023 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.