Happy Valley fans frustrated after mind-boggling question is left unanswered in finale

Fans were left feeling emotional after the last ever episode of Happy Valley aired last night, but while many viewers took to social media to share how much they loved the ending, there were some who were left feeling puzzled by one part of the storyline. 

* WARNING — spoilers for all episodes of Happy Valley season 3 below*

After watching an intense showdown between Sarah Lancashire and James Norton as Catherine Cawood and her nemesis Tommy Lee Royce on Sunday night (February 5) fans are demanding that the acting duo get all the awards for a scene that will no doubt go down in history as one of the best to air on British TV thanks to Sally Wainwright's beautiful writing. 

But while Catherine got her happy ending, now finally facing a future free of Tommy Lee Royce after he took his own life, fans were left confused about another part of the season 3 plot line. 

The storyline that has got everyone talking is the one that saw pharmacist Faisal Bhatti (Amit Shah) batter Joanna Hepworth (Mollie Winnard) to death with a rolling pin and frame her abusive husband Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley) for the crime. 

While Catherine managed to tie up the loose ends to that police investigation by pointing her team in Faisal's direction as she packed up her office on her last day in the police force, fans have been left still wondering why Joanna and Rob's younger daughter, Poppy, never takes her coat off.

The fact that the young girl always wears a huge puffy coat indoors was mentioned on screen on numerous occasions throughout season 3, leaving fans convinced that it would be linked to some sort of major plot twist.

Some fans thought maybe she was hiding bruises on her arms caused by her abusive father, while others thought that maybe at some point Joanna had told her daughter that she needed to be ready to flee their dad's evil clutches at a moment's notice, with Poppy taking her mum's worlds literally.

Poppy's coat-wearing habit wasn't addressed again before the final credits rolled on the last ever episode of the BBC drama... and fans were annoyed they will never know the truth. 

They took to social media to share their frustration... 

However, there is good news for fans, as Mollie Winnard, who plays Joanna in Happy Valley, told Metro: ‘It’s actually a trauma thing, so it’s a protective layer. The coat is definitely to protect herself because of what she’s living in, and the environment that she’s living in. She doesn’t want to take her coat off."

So there you have it — mystery solved after all! 

To catch up on Happy Valley you can watch all three seasons on BBC iPlayer now.