What a joy it was to see Ramon Tikaram playing Ch Supt Praveen Badal in Happy Valley

 What a joy it was to see Ramon Tikaram playing Ch Supt Praveen Badal in Happy Valley

 the man in charge of the Basic Command Unit that Sarah Lancashire’s lead character works for. It is worth noting that currently the Met does not have a single BCU commander of colour. Although I did notice that in series two the wardrobe department got his shoulder epaulettes wrong – superintendent instead of chief superintendent – it is still thrilling to see this representation on screen.

Sgt Catherine Cawood (played by Lancashire), meanwhile, is a lesson in the realities of policing, and showing how it should be done. Take her monologue in the opening scene of the first season of Happy Valley. She is speaking to Liam, a young man standing on a park climbing frame who is threatening to set himself alight. “I’m Catherine by the way,” she says. “I’m 47, I’m divorced, I live with my sister – who’s a recovering heroin addict – I have two grownup children. One dead and one who doesn’t speak to me.” It is brilliant, and human. It also shows how police officers, like so many of us, have challenges in our private lives that can cause conflicts of interest.

But these can also make us better at our jobs. Catherine saves the young man long before the highly trained hostage negotiator (in my experience, usually a white man) arrives.