Happy Valley fans are praying the show will return for a fourth season, despite producers previously declaring Sunday night's finale was the very last episode.
BBC viewers say they have unanswered questions following the crime drama's nail-biting conclusion, which saw Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) come out alive during her final showdown with Tommy Lee Royce.
The nation watched as twisted murderer Tommy, played by James Norton, broke into Catherine's home after escaping prison and then fleeing from the gang he had been working with.
But by the time he reached Catherine's house he was bleeding badly and seemed unable to physically attack her as he had done in the past.
After a heated exchange - with insults thrown about - Tommy then doused himself in petrol saying the taser would no longer work and he was going to kill himself.
"I've already taken a load of pills anyway, belt and braces me. I'm not going back to prison," he said before lighting a match.
After setting himself on fire, Cawood attempted to put the flames out with a blanket and then was seen leaving the house before breaking into tears hysterically and being confronted by her sister Clare Cartwright (played by Siobhan Finneran ).
While viewers were relieved to see Catherine finish the series unarmed, some wanted to see more from the subplots involving the dodgy pharmacist-turned-murderer and the abusive P.E teacher.
One disappointed fan took fumed online: "#HappyValley ending? Hopeless! Paid lip service to the teacher/pharmacist storyline, and other than that Tommy torches himself! Really poor imho!"
Another agreed, tweeting: "The ending of happy valley was disappointing…. didn’t see anyone get charged with joanna’s murder or that pharmacist get arrested? pls tell me a sister show will come out somewhen."
But some fans took it as a sign there may be more to come from Happy Valley.
"That was a cop out," one fan began writing on Twitter as the end credits rolled on Sunday night's finale.
"Why was ur man in the car the double of Neil? We need series 4 to bring Faisal to justice and also a ‘Cawood’ series with Catherine investigating crimes in exotic locations a la white lotus/glass onion #HappyValleyFinale #HappyValley."
"That whole scene was giving me major series 4 ep 1 vibes… except more murder risk #HappyValley," another added, with a third tweeting: "Nah I didn’t get any answers out of that roll on series 4 -6 #happyvalley."
One fan predicted: "Series 4 is coming - when Ryan is a police officer… can’t wait #happyvalley."
Speaking before Sunday night's finale aired, Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright revealed she thinks production have "done a good job" of wrapping things up when it comes to the ending.
"During filming of series two, Sarah and I started talking about doing the final series and being really clear that it was a final series," she explained to GQ.
Sally added: "Sarah is always really good at knowing when to stop doing stuff. I thought it would make a really clear statement that this is the end of the story.
"It's been a fantastic series, but we're going to make a really definite finale. You never know how anything's going to go down, but I think we've done a good job."
It seems the show's producers agree with Sally.
Speaking at a BFI screening, Happy Valley's executive producer Will Johnston explained why things had to conclude with the series three finale.
He said: "The two vital things are that Rhys [Connah, playing Ryan Cawood] is now at an age to make his own decisions about his life and the relationships in it, and [Lancashire's character] Catherine's on the brink of retirement, and those felt like such juicy things to explore."
He added: "It definitely isn't coming back – and again this is [from] Sally and Sarah who completely and rightly feel that you can have too much of a good thing.
"We're really not doing any more. You're a few weeks away from the ending but when you get to it, I really hope you'll feel content that if that's the last you ever see of the characters of Happy Valley, it was a big way to go out."
*All three series of Happy Valley are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now
