A drama filmed in Bolton that shocked the nation has become one of the most watched drama series of the last 10 years.
Bolton town center was shown to millions in January when Sarah Lancashire, who plays Sergeant Catherine Cawood, was spotted in the town for episode two of the third and final series.
Several Bolton businesses were featured in the town centre, including Amico Café, Scoopalicious and The Vaults.
Official ratings show that this year’s series finale had a television audience of 11.1 million.
BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore says: “Happy Valley is the ultimate television event, Sally Wainwright’s emotional roller coaster has gripped the nation and has grown week by week into early 2023.”
Critics hailed the final episode of Happy Valley as “electrifying” and a “Bafta-winning”, in which Sarah Lancashire’s West Yorkshire Police Sergeant Catherine Cawood has one last showdown with the murderer, sex offender and escaped convict. Tommy Lee Royce, played by James Norton.
The official ratings for the finale, which aired on BBC One on February 5, were published by audience research organization Barb.
They are consolidated ratings, which means they include people who recorded and watched the show up to seven days later, the industry standard for measuring TV audiences.
Only four other series since 2013 have achieved higher ratings, including crime thrillers Line of Duty and Bodyguard.
Line of Duty star Adrian Dunbar was also seen filming in Lever Street, Bolton in January.
The final episode of Line of Duty, broadcast in May 2021, had a television audience of 15.8 million, the largest audience for a drama series this century, according to an analysis by the PA news agency.
Bolton has quickly become the Hollywood of the North, filming numerous hit shows such as the ITV drama, Nolly, The Full Monty, Brassic, Bodies, Red Rose and more.
The other three drama series in the last 10 years to surpass Happy Valley in TV ratings are BBC’s Bodyguard (15.2 million in September 2018) and Sherlock (12.7 million in January 2014), along with with ITV’s Broadchurch (11.6 million in April 2017). ).
Very few series in recent years have come close to matching the huge audiences of Line of Duty and Bodyguard.
Although this list is led by Line of Duty and Bodyguard, the following entries are all turn-of-the-century ITV series: Heartbeat (one episode in 2000 viewed by 15.2 million), A Touch of Frost (2001, 14.7 million ) and Inspector Morse (2000, 13.7 million).
In a chart of the most-watched drama series of the 21st century so far, Happy Valley ranks 16th.
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