BAFTA viewers have 'jump scare' at Sarah Lancashire's real voice as she accepts Best Leading Actress

Viewers had a total 'jump scare' from Sarah Lancashire's real voice as she took to the stage at the TV BAFTAs.

The Happy Valley actor scooped up the final award for the night at tonight's (12 May) ceremony in London; Best Leading Actress.

And as Lancashire gave her acceptance speech, many fans did a double take as she began to speak.

As any fan of the show will know, her character, Catherine Cawood, has a strong Yorkshire accent. But that couldn't be any more different to the actor's real accent.

Sarah Lancashire. (Dave Benett/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)

So different that a very confused viewer wrote on X: "Why is Sarah Lancashire putting on that strange accent?"

That's because, her normal voice could be classed, well, as one wrote: "Always forget Sarah Lancashire is actually posh…"

Another echoed: "Sarah Lancashire not speaking with that thick Yorkshire accent somehow feels wrong."

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One simply put: "I never knew Sarah Lancashire talked like that in real life!!!"

With another even saying: "Sarah Lancashire’s accent was a jump scare."

And one thing fans agreed on was how buzzing they were she'd won, as they wrote: "I was ready to riot if Sarah Lancashire hadn't won that! Thank God, more than deserved."

Lancashire in Happy Valley. (BBC)

And one user agreed: "The moment of joy we've all been waiting for. Seeing Sarah Lancashire crowned Leading Actress .#BAFTATVAwards #HappyValley What a SUPERB performance, what a SUPERB production, cast and crew. What GREAT writing."

Others shared photos of her win, writing: "Sarah Lancashire - one of my all time favourite actresses! Such talent! She never fails to blow me away - no matter the part! Pair her with Sally Wainwright's writing and it's off the scale! Bravo."

Lancashire is actually from Oldham, Greater Manchester.

Happy Valley first began way back in 2014, with a second season in 2016. Both those seasons scooped up a BAFTA TV award for Best Drama Series.

Fans then had to wait until 2023 for the third season, with Lancashire of course returning to her coveted role along with James Norton.

The full list of nominees and winners from tonight's TV BAFTAs are as follows:

Comedy entertainment programme

The Graham Norton Show (BBC One)

Late Night Lycett (Channel 4)

Rob & Romesh Vs... (Sky Max) - WINNER

Would I Lie To You? (BBC One)

Current affairs

Inside Russia: Traitors And Heroes (BBC Four)

Putin vs the West (BBC Two)

Russell Brand: In Plain Sight (Channel 4)

The Shamima Begum Story (BBC Two) - WINNER

Daytime

Loose Women and Men (ITV1)

Lorraine (ITV1)

Make It at Market (BBC One)

Scam Interceptors (BBC One) - WINNER

Drama series

The Gold (BBC One)

Happy Valley (BBC One)

Slow Horses (Apple TV+)

Top Boy (Netflix) - WINNER

Entertainment programme

Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas (Apple TV+)

Later… with Jools Holland (BBC Two)

Michael McIntyre’s Big Show (BBC One)

Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One) - WINNER

Entertainment performance

Ant & Dec - I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (ITV1)

Big Zuu - Big Zuu's Big Eats (Dave)

Graham Norton - The Graham Norton Show (BBC One)

Hannah Waddingham - Eurovision Song Content 2023 (BBC One)

Joe Lycett - Late Night Lycett (Channel 4) - WINNER

Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan - Rob & Romesh Vs... (Sky Max)

Factual entertainment

Celebrity Race Across the World (BBC One) - WINNER

The Dog House (Channel 4)

Endurance: Race to the Pole (Channel 5)

Portrait Artist of the Year (Sky Arts)

Factual series

Dublin Narcos (Sky Documentaries)

Evacuation (Channel 4)

Lockerbie (Sky Documentaries) - WINNER

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland (BBC Two)

Female performance in a comedy

Bridget Christie - The Change (Channel 4)

Gbemisola Ikumelo - Black Ops (BBC One) - WINNER

Máiréad Tyers - Extraordinary (Disney+)

Roisin Gallagher - The Lovers (Sky Atlantic)

Sofia Oxenham - Extraordinary (Disney+)

Taj Atwal - Hullraisers (Channel 4)

International

The Bear (Disney+)

Beef (Netflix)

Class Act (Netflix) - WINNER

The Last of Us (Sky Atlantic)

Love & Death (ITVX)

Succession (Sky Atlantic)

Leading actor

Brian Cox - Succession (Sky Atlantic)

Dominic West - The Crown (Netflix)

Kane Robinson - Top Boy (Netflix)

Paapa Essiedu - The Lazarus Project (Sky Max)

Steve Coogan - The Reckoning (BBC One)

Timothy Spall - The Sixth Commandment (BBC One) - WINNER

Leading actress

Anjana Vasan - Black Mirror's Demon 79 (Netflix)

Anne Reid - The Sixth Commandment (BBC One)

Bella Ramsey - The Last of Us (Sky Atlantic)

Helena Bonham Carter - Nolly (ITVX)

Sarah Lancashire - Happy Valley (BBC One) - WINNER

Sharon Horgan - Best Interests (BBC One)

Limited drama

Best Interests (BBC One)

Black Mirror's Demon 79 (Netflix)

The Long Shadow (ITV1)

The Sixth Commandment (BBC One) - WINNER

Live event coverage

Coronation Concert (BBC One)

Eurovision Song Contest 2023 (BBC One) - WINNER

Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance (BBC One)

Male performance in a comedy

Adjani Salmon - Dreaming Whilst Black (BBC Three)

David Tennant - Good Omens (Prime Video)

Hammed Animashaun - Black Ops (BBC One)

Jamie Demetriou - A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou (Netflix)

Joseph Gilgun - Brassic (Sky Max)

Mawaan Rizwan - Juice (BBC Three) - WINNER

News coverage

Inside Gaza: Israel and Hamas at War (Channel 4) - WINNER

Inside Myanmar: The Hidden War (Sky News)

Israel-Hamas War (Sky News)

Reality

Banged Up (Channel 4)

Married at First Sight UK (E4)

My Mum, Your Dad (ITV1)

Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix) - WINNER

Scripted comedy

Big Boys (Channel 4)

Dreaming Whilst Black (BBC Three)

Extraordinary (Disney+)

Such Brave Girls (BBC Three) - WINNER

Short form

Mobility (BBC Three) - WINNER

The Skewer: Three Twisted Years (BBC iPlayer)

Stealing Ukraine’s Children: Inside Russia’s Camps (Vice News)

Where It Ends (BBC Three)

Single documentary

David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived (Sky Documentaries)

Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family (ITV1) - WINNER

Hatton (Sky Crime)

Vjeran Tomic: The Spider-Man of Paris (Netflix)

Soap

Casualty (BBC One) - WINNER

EastEnders (BBC One)

Emmerdale (ITV1)

Specialist factual

Chimp Empire (Netflix)

The Enfield Poltergeist (Apple TV+)

Forced Out (Sky Documentaries)

White Nanny, Black Child (Channel 5) - WINNER

Sports coverage

Cheltenham Festival Day One (ITV1) - WINNER

MOTD Live: FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 (BBC One)

Wimbledon 2023 Men’s Final (BBC One)

Supporting actor

Amit Shah - Happy Valley (BBC One)

Éanna Hardwicke - The Sixth Commandment (BBC One)

Harris Dickinson - A Murder at the End of the World (Disney+)

Jack Lowden - Slow Horses (Apple TV+)

Matthew Macfadyen - Succession (Sky Atlantic) - WINNER

Salim Daw - The Crown (Netflix)

Supporting actress

Elizabeth Debicki - The Crown (Netflix)

Harriet Walter - Succession (Sky Atlantic)

Jasmine Jobson - Top Boy (Netflix) - WINNER

Lesley Manville - The Crown (Netflix)

Nico Parker - The Last of Us (Sky Atlantic)

Siobhan Finneran - Happy Valley (BBC One)

Memorable moment award

Beckham - David teases Victoria about her ‘work class’ upbringing (Netflix)

Doctor Who - Ncuti Gatwa being revealed as the 15th Doctor (BBC One)

Happy Valley - Catherine Cawed and Tommy Lee Royce’s final kitchen showdown (BBC One) - WINNER

The Last of Us - Bill and Frank’s Story (Sky Atlantic)

The Piano - 13-year-old Lucy stuns commuters with performance (Channel 4)

Succession - Logan Roy’s death (Sky Atlantic)

Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, BAFTAs

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_