Sarah Lancashire, 58, says she has “the most terrible menopause” and went to Sainsbury’s without knowing what to buy

Millions of fans know her as the quick-witted Sergeant Catherine Cawood in the hit TV drama “Happy Valley”.

But Sarah Lancashire has revealed in real life that she struggles with menopause-induced brain fog – and even forgot she was there to buy groceries during a recent trip to Sainsbury’s.

The actress, speaking to The Mail on Sunday after picking up the Best Drama Performance award for her role in Happy Valley at the National Television Awards last week, also admitted that she had hot flashes at the ceremony Used fans to keep cool.

“I have the worst menopause,” said the 58-year-old.

“I have brain fog.” I was in Sainsbury’s the other day and just stood in the aisle and couldn’t remember why I was there. It comes over you all of a sudden.

Sarah Lancashire won Best Dramatic Performance at the National Television Awards last week for her role in Happy Valley

Ms Lancashire has revealed in real life that she struggles with brain fog caused by menopause

“I can’t remember things that happened 30 years ago either.” Ms Lancashire, who beat off competition from her Happy Valley co-star James Norton to also win a Special Recognition Award, said she had to do the two Using fans “on my face pretty much the whole time” because it was so hot in London’s O2 where the awards ceremony was taking place.

The actress added: “I brought one of my closest friends with me and his job was to look out for the cameras and if it looked like they were panning over to us then he would let me know so I could could ‘Hide them.’

Ms Lancashire – who has two adult sons from her marriage to music teacher Gary Hargreaves and a teenager with her current husband, former BBC boss Peter Salmon – said she turned to HRT to help with menopause symptoms . “I’m taking the gel, but it’s not doing me any good, so I might try the patches next,” she said.

The star, who rose to fame in the early 1990s playing Rovers Return barmaid Raquel Watts in Coronation Street, is currently producing a TV show and has called for older women to catch up on TV appearances.

She said: “I think things are changing and have needed to change for a very long time. “It’s slow and we need to catch up.”

Ms Lancashire, winner of the Special Recognition Award and the Drama Performance Award for her work in Happy Valley at the National Television Awards at the O2 Arena

She also said there needs to be a push to attract talent from more diverse backgrounds.

Happy Valley broke records when 7.5 million watched the dramatic finale in February. But Ms Lancashire confirmed there will be no return and said she was glad it was ending after three series. She said: “The story was finished… There’s a danger that you keep going and it loses its impact. “That’s how we come out on top.”

After previously opening up about her mental health struggles, the actress revealed that she was diagnosed with clinical depression at the age of 18. She said: “I have my good sides and my bad sides… In my early days depression actually inhibited me because I…” was too weak and scared to tell anyone why I couldn’t get on the train from Manchester to come to the audition in London. I was convinced that if I admitted it, I would lose my job.

“Sedatives were the worst and I ended up in a terrible situation.” “My 20s were a write-off.”