HAPPY Valley creator Sally Wainwright has opened up on the secret meaning behind the show as it continues to receive rave reviews in its third and final series.

The BBC One drama finally hit screens once again at the turn of the New Year seven years on from the last instalment and has continued to see the overwhelmingly positive reaction roll in.

Show creator Sally Wainwright has now opened up about the creation of the show and admitted the title of the hit series came from a secret nickname within the police force.

Sally revealed that with ever series she works very closely with the real life policing teams of the West Yorkshire Calder Valley, where the programme is set and filmed.

She revealed of the origins of the name Happy Valley: "I always work closely with police advisors, who are old police officers who have worked in the area, and one of them told me that is what they call the Valley because of issues with drugs.

"For me, it reflected the show. It’s dark, but it has also got a lot of humour in it. I think less so in season one, more so in season two."

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"We want to continue that in the new season. It’s still very much about the dark side of life, but it’s also about how within that people always find ways of being funny and warm and human."

In the latest series of the show with just weeks until she is due to retire, Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, is horrified to discover that her sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) has been secretly taking Ryan to see his father, the notorious Tommy Lee Royce, behind bars alongside her partner Neil.

The news leaves Catherine reeling and she issues an ultimatum to Ryan over his future.

Sally spoke of her inspiration to create the gritty police drama.

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The writer said: "I saw a documentary by Jez Lewis called Shed Your Tears and Walk Away and it was about drug and alcohol problems, specifically in Hebden Bridge.

"The other influence was that, when I was a kid, there was a series called Juliet Bravo, which I really, really liked.

"It was actually not filmed far from Hebden Bridge, it was filmed in Todmorden.

"It was about a female police inspector and it was a really good show."

Fans of the show were left shocked at an unexpected murder scene during the latest episode of the show.

Viewers have been convinced that abused wife Joanna was going to be murdered by her cruel husband despite her plot to kill him and escape.

But tonight as pharmacist Faisal agreed to help her, things took a turn.

He supplied drugs to knock her husband out so he could then come and inject him with air to kill him silently.

As Faisal walked through the house plotting their every move, Joanna let slip that her husband didn’t actually know about him at all.

Joanna tried to back out, and then changed her mind again, leaving the on the edge pharmacist at breaking point.

A furious row began as she told him to get out and she pushed him back, and in retaliation he grabbed a rolling pin and smashed her over the head.

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She lay twitching on the floor as Faisal looked on in shock – but when Catherine called and left a message about the pills he had supplied to her, he took shock action.

Pulling out the syringe with the air, he prepared to inject her leaving fans horrified.

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