Crime drama Happy Valley has gripped millions of TV viewers over the past few weeks.

And the success of the BBC series, which ends next week, has very much a Huddersfield link at its heart.

Writer Sally Wainwright was brought up in Huddersfield and Calderdale.

Former Huddersfield detective Bob Bridgestock and his wife Carol, who are celebrated writers, were taken on as storyline consultants.

Former Huddersfield police officer Lisa Farrand was brought in as policing consultant.

And many of the scenes were shot in and around Armitage Bridge mills.

The drama has had its share of critics for its violence, with a policewoman mowed down and another savagely beaten.

But Mr Bridgestock said: “It’s the life faced by uniformed police officers in towns across West Yorkshire and the rest of the country all the time.

“The storyline is very violent but it is also uplifting, with the tale of how women survive and flourish.

“We were in at the outset of the production meetings and we looked at everything Sally had written and made sure it was how real policing would work.

“We were not able to be there for the filming so we recommended a friend and former Huddersfield officer, Lisa Farrand, and she was in on the filiming”.

Mrs Bridgestock added:”Happy Valley has been criticised for the violence but I dispute it is gratuitous. There are some very strong characters in there and many of them are women who survive”.

The couple are bringing out their fifth crime novel in the DI Dylan series in July. Reprobates will be launched in Brighouse

They are also hard at work on books six and seven and are still in talks about a possible TV series.

Mr Bridgestock, a detective in Huddersfield and West Yorkshire for 30 years, said: “Things are going really well and we sold 30,000 books last year.

“We worked with Sally on Happy Valley and we have also worked on her next series of the crime drama Scott and Bailey”.

The links with Sally Wainwright run deep. She and Carol were students in the 1970s at Sowerby Bridge Grammar School and both have gone on to be become two of the UK’s celebrated fiction writers.

Carol said: “I have fond memories of my time at Sowerby Bridge Grammar. It was very strict; if you didn’t wear your beret when you walked through the school gates then you could be sure of detention! It’s a real coincidence that we have now ended up working together professionally.

“As a storyteller Calderdale is a great place to set our novels for a number of reasons. The people here are down to earth and real and the landscape is so spectacular it becomes a central character in its own right. One minute we will have brooding skies and foreboding weather and the next the sun can be cracking the flags, it really plays a part in all our novels”.

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