'I look just like Happy Valley's Sarah Lancashire - people give me funny looks'

10 February 2023 , 10:34

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Colette used to be known as Raquel - after Sarah Lancashire's character in Corrie (Image: Jam Press)

A shop worker who says she looks just like Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire is hoping to cop loads of work as a lookalike.

Colette Allan, 59, always gets funny looks from strangers for being a doppelgänger of the Oldham actress, with stares even more common since the country has been gripped by the latest series of the BBC police drama.

So much so, now the shop worker is expecting to land gigs as a dead-ringer for Sarah, 58, a.k.a. Sgt Catherine Cawood.

Colette's husband Andrew, 67, signed her up with the Susan Scott Lookalikes agency as a joke to start off with. But they are expecting lots of work due to the success of Happy Valley.

Sarah Lancashire as Sgt Catherine Cawood (BBC/Red Productions/Ben Blackall)

"I really do look like her," Colette, of St. Austell, Cornwall, said. "I'm totally blown away by it all and don't know what to expect now after the show's success.

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"It is so wonderful watching Happy Valley, I have been glued, she is amazing."

Colette Allan at her local police station (Jam Press)

Colette and Andrew moved to Cornwall 18 months ago from Staffordshire.

Before the success of Happy Valley, which came to a close on Sunday, people used to confuse her with Sarah Lancashire's character in Coronation Street.

"When she was Raquel in Coronation Street everyone was to call me Raquel," she explained.

"I used to work at the National Memorial Arboretum. Lots of visitors there would look at me and say 'You look like someone off the telly'.

"I always get funny looks" (Jam Press)

"I always get funny looks and even more so now."

Happy Valley first aired in 2014 charting Sgt Cawood's police heroics in catching cop killer and rapist, Tommy Lee Royce.

It returned for a second series two years later and the final season returned to TV screens last year.

The climax of the series was described by TV critics as "a sensational end to a truly great drama" and "a heart-stopping triumph".

The final episode was watched by an average audience of 7.5 million, according to overnight ratings.

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Are you a lookalike? Please get in touch at [email protected]

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