TV & Showbiz

Fans call Sarah Lancashire the ‘best actress in the world’ after last night’s Happy Valley episode

The Oldham-born actress has been receiving widespread acclaim.

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant - 16th January 2023

Fans are heaping praise on Sarah Lancashire after last night’s episode of Happy Valley, and some are even calling her “the best actress in the world”.

The latest episode in the third series of the smash-hit BBC drama Happy Valley hit our screens last night, and once again, Sarah Lancashire has seen thousands of adoring fans taking to social media to shower her with praise and commend her performance as the show’s lead character, Sergeant Catherine Cawood.

The Oldham-born actress has consistently received critical acclaim for her portrayal of the strong-willed police Sergeant in the crime drama – but this latest series of the award-winning show has arguably seen her win over more fans than ever before.

The 58-year-old has impressed throughout her career by starring in long-running Manchester-based soap Coronation Street as Raquel Wolstenhulme, as well as appearing in Where The Heart Is, Clocking Off, Lark Rise to Candleford, and Last Tango in Halifax, and countless theatre productions.

But the Happy Valley role has earned Lancashire a BAFTA, a National Television Award (NTA), and two TV Choice Awards over the years, so you know she must be good in it.

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Fans are calling Sarah Lancashire the ‘best actress in the world’ after last night’s Happy Valley episode / Credit: BBC

In case you aren’t caught up on this series, and missed last night’s episode, (here’s your spoiler alert warning…) Lancashire’s character Catherine confronted her sister Clare – who is played by Siobhan Finneran – for taking her grandson Rhys to visit his evil dad Tommy Lee Royce in prison without her consent.

Fans were gripped with tension and left in utter shock after the episode’s dramatic cliffhanger – in which Catherine saw a vision of her late daughter Becky, before silently sobbing as she left the cafe where she’d had the row with Clare in.

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After the episode was over, both viewers and famous names took to social media in their thousands to praise Lancashire and her co-star Finneran for producing some of “the best TV ever”.

Many are also calling for Lancashire to take home this year’s best actress BAFTA nod.

One fan said: “The cafe scene was as good as seen in any movie. The tension was unbearable.”

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Another fan on Twitter added: Just when you think Sarah Lancashire can’t get any better she goes up another gear. Brilliant performance”, while a third added: “Good God, Sarah Lancashire is absolutely phenomenal in this, it’s like a superpower.”

“Sarah Lancashire is the absolute GOAT,” another fan added on Twitter.

“The magnitude of command and power and emotion that she distills into every moment, whilst maintaining absolute truth and subtly is something to behold.”

Another impressed fan said on Twitter: “I know everyone has been saying it all week but I’ve caught up with Happy Valley and I’m drained.

“Just give Sarah Lancashire the BAFTA now, it’s done.”

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“Sarah Lancashire is the best actress in the world and I’m not being hyperbolic. We need her to have an Olivia Colman Hollywood ascension,” yet another enthusiastic fan claimed.

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Featured Image – BBC

TV & Showbiz

We rediscovered an old Boddingtons advert and now we’re gasping for ‘the cream of Manchester’

Danny Jones Danny Jones Old Boddingtons ad cream of Manchester canal

If you’re from Greater Manchester, the name Boddingtons likely needs no introduction, but if you’re new to the area or part of the generation that’s young enough to have never clocked the legendary logo before, the ‘Cream of Manchester’ was known for making a good advert or two.

Answers on a postcard? Yes, we of course are referring to the classic ice cream van ad that featured a young Melanie Sykes serving an ice-cold pint of Boddingtons to a thirsty athlete, played by former EastEnders actor Ken George.

In fact, the recognisable TV presenter and British household name went on to feature in a few of them, including a contemporary recreation back in 2017, but it isn’t any of her appearances that recently re-captured our attention.

The old ‘Boddies’ ad that we stumbled across in 2025, more than 30 years on from when it originally aired, is the Gondola/’Just One Cornetto’ spoof filmed right here in the city centre along Manchester’s famous canal network.

Circa 1993. Recognise where it is?

Just as beautiful as Venice, if you ask us – and that’s just the pint…

As you can see, not only did the once beloved Boddingtons advert capture a glimpse of the River Irwell near the old Granada Studios and how Manchester’s waterways used to look back in the day, but it was also a pretty modern, ironic take for the time.

Inspired by arguably one of the most famous ads of all time, the Boddies marketing team and director Jeff Stark didn’t just imitate or poke fun at Wall’s Cornetto ice cream: they played on the genuine nickname and imagery drummed up by locals who drank it week in, week out.

The famous frothy white head and the ‘do you want a Flake with that?’ is the kind of joke you still hear to this day when someone overdoes it with a Guinness, but turning the glass into a golden ice cream was a bit of genius.

In fact, the old Boddies ad even helped launch the career of stingy ‘Gladys Althorpe’ herself, Anna Chancellor, who went on to appear in What A Girl Wants, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and many more.

She and Sykes weren’t the only ones either; another admittedly sexually-charged campaign released roughly a year later featured another familiar face in Sarah Parish (Doctor Who, Trollied, The Wedding Date) – again, always ending with a stereotypically Manc, if not at least Northern, punchline.

It was smash hits like these that saw Boddingtons dubbed not only Manchester’s most famous beverage but ‘the Cream of Marketing‘ for a time as well.

The beer may not be as prominent as it once was, but its legacy as part of classic UK telly is up there with R Whites Lemonade, Dairy Milk, Compare The Meerkat, and so many more.

You can see a super-cut compilation of some of their retro ads HERE.

Oh yeah, and if watching all this has made you get a thirst on like it did us, you’ll be glad to hear that while it may be difficult to locate these days, there are still a few places you can find a pint of Boddies in and around the area.

The lost art of Boddingtons, and which pubs still serve The Cream of Manchester
By ‘eck, it’s still gorgeous.

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Featured Images — advertarchive (screenshot via YouTube)

TV & Showbiz

Why fans are fearing cancellation of Catfish and The Bottlemen’s massive Manchester gig

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia Will Catfish Manchester gig Heaton Park be cancelled

Indie rockers Catfish and The Bottlemen are playing a headline show at Heaton Park in Manchester, but plenty of gig-goers have a genuine fear of a potential cancellation.

The Welsh band known for their stacked roster of hits, including ‘Cocoon’, ‘Kathleen’, ‘7’, ‘Pacifier’ and many more, are set to play Heaton Park on 13 June, but there has already been a fair amount of scepticism among fans online.

Just last year, Catfish and The Bottlemen cancelled an array of international shows, including one rather long-awaited gig in Ireland.

This Irish date would’ve marked the band’s first show in the country in five years; however, 15 minutes before doors were due to open, the Dublin date got cancelled.

Catfish and The Bottlemen are expected to play at Heaton Park on 13 June
Catfish and The Bottlemen are expected to play at Heaton Park on 13 June / Credit: Supplied

No comments were made by the band as to why this decision happened, instead, all updates and communication came from the ticket company directly.

MCD Productions, who were in charge of hosting the would-be gig at Fairview Park, revealed that the reason for the abrupt cancellation of Catfish’s Ireland gig was due to ‘artist illness’, stating that all attendees would be issued and are entitled to a full refund.

The following week, Catfish also cancelled all of their US and Australia tour with no official statement from the rock group, and fans were frustrated to say the least.

Two weeks after these stark cancellations, the indie rockers announced two stadium shows: Cardiff and London, with the Manchester date in Heaton Park revealed a month later – all scheduled for this summer.

The issues don’t just lie with gig cancellations either; the band’s lineup has been in turmoil over recent years, with musicians joining and leaving this Welsh rock act.

Catfish and The Bottlemen back in 2016 ahead of Sound City in Liverpool
Catfish and The Bottlemen back in 2016 ahead of Sound City in Liverpool / Credit: Supplied

Most notably, former guitarist Johnny Bond, who originally left the band in 2021, issued a statement in 2022 via Instagram about “behaviour constantly re-occurring” that he found to be “intolerable”.

Only two original members remain: Van McCann, lead singer and now the main guitarist since Billy Bibby left in 2021, and Benji Blakeway, the band’s bassist and backing vocalist.

Many have speculated on some of that behaviour, and the source behind at least some of the band’s problems is the extremely talented, charismatic, but often frenetic frontman himself; you only need to search his name on the likes of TikTok to fall down the rabbit hole.

While there are lots dismissing some of his behaviour on stage as nothing more than loose, in-the-moment ‘rockstar energy’, others have expressed concern for his well-being at times.

Catfish’s latest Instagram post reporting the fact that the Heaton Park date is now sold out has been met with hundreds of comments from fans worrying that it won’t go ahead.

One user wrote, “Are u gonna cancel this one 7 mins before doors open too?”, while another took to the comment section to say, “I’ll be there. Don’t know about van tho”.

Replies to their tweets on X (formerly Twitter) have been similar too, as one fan writes: “Don’t worry guys, it’ll be cancelled soon!”.

These are, of course, just a taste of a much larger sample size, as their ‘comeback’ in February 2024 with ‘Showtime’ – their first new song in five years – looked like it could be the start of a new album cycle, but there hasn’t been anything else since then.

Barring the 10th anniversary version of their debut LP, The Balcony, and the re-release of old single and cult favourite ‘ASA’, there’s very little to suggest that there is even a latest project that currently exists to make any progress on.

Catfish and The Bottlemen are scheduled to play Heaton Park in Manchester on 13 June – let’s hope it’s not a ‘Longshot’. For those of you going, do you have any actual doubts whether or not it will go ahead?

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For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images – Publicity Pictures (via Supplied)/Kaleb Nimz (via Unsplash)

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