Fancy a cuppa with everyone’s favourite bobby?

Pannett, whose stories of being a police officer in North Yorkshire were described by one national newspaper as “Heartbeat meets James Herriot”, will be launching his latest book at the Great Yorkshire Show next week – and anyone who pays him a visit will get a free box of Yorkshire Tea.

So is it a gimmick? Not really, with huge crowds virtually guaranteed at the Harrogate venue – and Pannett a big draw anyway, Yorkshire Tea surely isn’t needed to pull the punters in – it just seems like a nice thing to do and Pannett is a thoroughly nice chap.

The author’s fifth book telling the tales and adventures of policing 600 square miles of North Yorkshire – one of the largest rural beats in England – is published later this month.

Up Beat and Down Dale follows books including Now Then, Lad and You’re Coming with Me, Lad, which recount the trials and tribulations of attempting to police such a large patch in rural Yorkshire.

The latest book tells of a series of burglaries the author was called in to investigate, which are sending shock waves through the area, in which remote farmhouses appear to be the target.

The York-born copper, who became one of the youngest police officers to be given his patch, transferred to North Yorkshire in 1997 to take over the area which has inspired so many of his popular tales.

Mike Pannett will be at the Great Yorkshire Show, July 10, 11, 12 at The Welcome To Yorkshire stand. Up Beat and Down Dale is published by Hodder and Stoughton, July 19.