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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Sam Cook & Kathryn Williams

BBC Happy Valley just gave subtle shout out to rival TV drama during its finale

Happy Valley has ended for good but there was one tiny moment when lead character Catherine Cawood gave a subtle shout out to another legendary BBC cop drama in the closing scenes.

As Sarah Lancashire and James Norton finally came face-to-face as their characters, Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce, the Yorkshire copper was forcefully explaining why she had beat Royce up on his barge in series one.

The pair were having a back and forth about the criminal's violent past and list of crimes when Catherine shouted at him for beating her up. To which Royce replied: "“You kicked the shit out if ME on that barge." And Catherine's response saw her namecheck fellow BBC cop show Line of Duty which also has a huge following. She said: “Yeah in the line of f*cking duty not because I’m a brain dead psychopath who thinks it’s an afternoon amusement!”

Read more: BBC Happy Valley: Susan Lynch's movie star sibling and Line of Duty ex

Fans of the show picked up on the namecheck with one saying: "Ooooo!!! She said ‘The Line Of Duty" and another added: "In the Line of Duty go Catherine." A third viewer tweeted: "Now let’s not bring line of duty into this."

While many others compared the Happy Valley finale to the conclusion of the last series of Line of Duty. "SO much better than the damp squib of the last Line of Duty finale," said one. "Well, unlike Line of Duty, that final episode did not disappoint. Stunning!" added another. And: "See, Line of Duty, THAT’S how you end a series."

The finale of Happy Valley saw lots of action including Royce lash out at the Knezevics in the most violent way as he suspected betrayal from the family who got him out of prison in that, slightly unbelievable, court escape. It also saw Catherine more or less apologise (without actually saying sorry) to sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) for taking Ryan to see his dad in prison.

Read next:

  • The simple but brilliant way BBC Happy Valley has united the TV-watching nation
  • Happy Valley cast and where you've seen them before
  • The Happy Valley quiz that will see if you're as sharp as Catherine Cawood
  • Happy Valley fan spots detail in Sarah Lancashire picture that proves how brilliant an actor she is
  • Happy Valley's Ryan Cawood just gave us the most emotional 10 minutes of TV in ages
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