Happy Valley showed us policing at its best and highlights importance of female officers - Jayne Dowle

The genius of Happy Valley is that it does encompass all of these, but takes everything simultaneously one step further and one step back; we see Sgt Cawood not as a one-dimensional figure serving a plot purpose, but as a complete and fallible individual.

The terrible things she - and her colleagues - encounter routinely as part of their shift, the beatings, the murder of the young female PC in series one, crushed between two cars by fleeing offenders, reminds us what they experience in the line of duty.

Whatever life throws at them, they have no choice but to get on with the job. If you’ve ever been in the position where a police officer has come to your aid, you will know that the overwhelming majority will always do their best, whatever the circumstances, and under increasing pressure from lack of resources.

Locked and bolted local police stations, endless waits to get through on the non-emergency line 101, and exceptional delays in the criminal justice system knock public faith in the police.

Only this week the GMB trade union has hit out at the closures of police desks across West Yorkshire, saying the cuts will put the public in more danger and remaining staff are “exhausted”.

So far, six police desks have closed across the region. These are: Northgate at Wakefield, Pontefract, Leeds Central and Todmorden while Keighley and Stainbeck have closed as staff have left due to the proposed cuts.

With huge respect to other public servants, including nurses and ambulance workers, staging a series of strikes this winter to highlight their demands for better pay and conditions, Happy Valley should serve as a stark reminder that police officers really are on the front line.

Would I encourage either of my two children into the force? After Happy Valley, I think I would.

I have to admit that I’ve been a latecomer to the series, filmed in and around Hebden Bridge and the Calder Valley.

Somehow, I missed the first two seasons (I’m catching up now, episode by gruelling episode), but I’ve been entirely enthralled every Sunday night since the start of January, as Sgt Cawood has battled her own personal grief with bringing the villainous but ultimately vulnerable Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) to justice.

The veracity of Sgt Cawood’s character owes a great deal to the peerless writing of Huddersfield-born Sally Wainwright, who has the absolutely perfect pitch for entirely believable Yorkshire dialogue.

As Sgt Cawood has juggled the demands of her fractured family, ex-husband and colleagues, many is the time I’ve heard my own voice in her terse responses to phone messages and authority figures, including school teachers and bosses, and her no-nonsense approach to parenting her grandson, Ryan (Rhys Connah).

However, above all, what has impressed me most is watching how a dedicated police officer goes about her job, day in, day out, whatever horrific things are happening in her personal life.

Sgt Cawood is far, far more than this, but if ever there was a poster girl for police recruitment, it has to be her. Yes, she was beaten almost senseless and suffered post-traumatic shock as a result, but her actions – the big ones, and the small ones – throughout the entire three seasons have reminded us why policing matters.

I’m not alone in my admiration. Even Penny Lancaster, wife of rock star Rod Stewart, and herself a Special Constable in the City of London police, is calling Sgt Cawood “her heroine”, adding: “I do hope that women watching Happy Valley might be inspired to join the police. We need female officers more than ever.”

She’s right on that last point too. There have been too many regrettable cases of errant male police officers abusing their power.

If trust is to be maintained in the police, it is important for women to feel they are safe. More women officers in prominent roles, even fictional ones, can only be a good thing in this respect.