Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire returns to her iconic detective role for a hilarious advert - two years after crime drama ended

Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire returned to her iconic detective role as she starred in a new advert for Yorkshire tea.  

The actress, 60, took on a role reminiscent of her famous character - police officer Catherine Cawood.

In the minute clip, which debuted on Wednesday, she is tasked with working out which employee is responsible for the theft of some biscuits at Yorkshire Tea headquarters.

After discovering the crime, Sarah makes her way around the office to interrogate each person to find out the truth.

Her no-nonsense interrogation style leads to her solving the case, before a voice-over says: 'Yorkshire Tea, where everything's done properly.'

Speaking about the role in a release, Sarah explained: 'I'm thrilled to join the Yorkshire Tea family and to spearhead the investigation of who stole Pat's biscuits.'

She added that she wouldn't reveal 'who the guilty party is, but they were a worthy adversary. You will just have to watch the advert to find out'.

Last year, The Daily Mail revealed that Sarah is planning to step away from acting and focus on producing work, following Happy Valley's final season in 2023.

'Sarah adores acting but the idea of producing had been niggling at her,' said a friend. 'She decided, once Happy Valley was over that it was a good time to get it under way. She is so excited. 

'It has been so exciting for her that even when she won her Outstanding Achievement Award at the National Television Awards last year, she had to dash home as she was up early the next day, telling everyone she is producing now.

'She may have found a new passion, Sarah has never loved the limelight anyway.'

Back in 2023, the Happy Valley finale became the most watched drama episode of the year, and Lancashire's co-star James Norton recalled just how special it was to act opposite her.

He told Radio Times: 'There's something wonderful about filming when, like, the stage, the acting space... we were in a studio for that final scene. So, you know, you're in this massive, like, aircraft carrier, [with] hundreds of people, lights, toys, you know, it's a crazy hive of energy and activity.

'And then Sarah comes in, one of the greatest actresses living, giving one of her greatest performances, giving the finale. 

'And I just remember sitting there going, 'F**k me. It does not get better than this. This is amazing.''

Happy Valley was a big hit with audiences after first airing in 2014, winning a BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series, with a follow-up second series in 2016.

Its creator and writer Sally Wainwright revealed she and her lead star Sarah were in agreement that the show should end on three series.

'We made a definite decision that this was going to be the final season,'she told the Radio Times in 2023.

'Just because it's been successful, we weren't going to let it drift on until it became a pale shadow of itself.'

At the time, Sarah also confirmed the series would not be back and said she was glad it had ended after three series. 

She said: 'The story was complete... there is a danger you carry on and on and it loses its potency. This way we go out on top.'

Sarah won critical acclaim for her role as Catherine Cawood in the crime series.

The show beat out The Gold and Top Boy for the Drama award at this year's Royal Television Society awards.

'It's game changing, top-of-the-class drama,' said the jury. 'Sometimes operatic in scale, but attentive to the tiniest detail.'

Sarah also scooped the Leading Actress Award at the BAFTA TV Awards in May and the Memorable Moment Award also went to Happy Valley for Catherine Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce's final kitchen showdown on BBC One.

Reflecting on her character, she told Entertainment on RTE: 'I hope that the characters that I play are flawed as well. 

'I think Catherine Cawood is particularly flawed, she wasn't always a likeable character and the more complex the character is as well.'