Happy Valley cafe: Viewers point out how gripping scene in 'Sheffield' on BBC police drama was shot in Bolton

Sergeant Catherine Cawood, played by the indomitable Sarah Lancashire, is back on our screens as the hit police drama returned for its third season this month. The brutal but critically acclaimed series depicting police work in West Yorkshire has been universally praised by UK critics and its return has been eagerly anticipated.

Of course, TV fiction sometimes takes liberties with its setting. Just as Sergeant Cawood is on the beat for ‘Yorkshire Police’, last night’s episode (January 8) may have surprised viewers when it cut to happenings outside ‘HMP Sheffield’ – which actually showed HMP Wakefield.

Maybe for the best, as connecting the plot to any real-world prison may, shall we say, have cast aspersions on that jail’s security… so maybe the insertion of fictional ‘HMP Sheffield’ can slide for now.

Steel City fans have also been quick to point out how a subsequent – and unbearably tense – scene set in ‘Sheffield city centre’ was shot at the well-known Amico Cafe – in Bolton.

“Thank goodness”, wrote one fan @mazzafazza on Twitter. “We don’t want the likes of Tommy Lee Royce around this parts.”

Sore-thumb representations of Sheffield aside, none of that can distract from the gripping, climactic scene that played out in the cafe, built entirely out of an excruciating phone call that viewers say they couldn’t bear to watch, with praise for Sarah Lancashire and co-star Siobhan Finneran’s heartbreaking, subtle acting.