Happy Valley fans forking out hundreds for tour of hit series' famous locations

Fans of BBC drama Happy Valley are stumping up hundreds of pounds to be taken on tours of some of the sites where the hit TV series was filmed.

The four-night trips include accommodation at a three or four-star hotel along with a guided tour of the show's key spots.

They will include West Yorkshire market town Hebden Bridge and show creator Sally Wainwright's hometown of Sowerby Bridge, including the town's old post office, used as the on-screen police station.

The tours will also take in the terraced home of Sgt Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, as well as Halifax, whose department store Harvey's featured in the latest series.

Organisers Tates Travel say they have been been inundated by fans wanting to sign up to the tours, which will run between June and September, despite them having a price tag of £339 per person.

More than 50 people signed up in less than a week, but interest was clearly higher, with a post on the company's Facebook page reaching more than a million people potentially interested in making a booking.

Lisa Halliday, a partner at the business, told BBC Breakfast: "We have had that many requests, we went to a couple of our operators and asked if they could put a tour on.

"It is basically a location tour and our Facebook page blew up - it reached 1.2m people in mere days.

"The interest has been phenomenal. We’ve taken bookings from all over."

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The third series of Happy Valley received wide acclaim, with the final episode earlier this month watched by 7.5million viewers.

The interest in locations featured in the hit drama suggests reflects research showing that 56% of Britons have been inspired to visit a new part of the UK after it appeared in a TV show, with film and TV productions inspiring an estimated 40% of tourists in selecting their destinations, and iconic locations receiving a potential 30% increase in bookings.

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Calderdale councillor Jane Scullion said: "We’ve gone from five productions being filmed in 2016, to a massive 27 in 2022.

"The impact is incredible and is supporting our priority for thriving towns and places.

"People across the country and the world are talking about Calderdale and coming to see our beautiful landscape and heritage, our cobbled streets and quirky independent businesses and events.

"Tourism is worth around £400 million to our local economy, and our teams are working harder than ever to make filming happen and capitalise on the effects."