The long awaited return of Happy Valley is finally over! An extremely popular police drama, airing for the first time over a year and a half ago.
Written by Sally Wainwright the drama is centred around no nonsense police Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire). Unlike a lot of police dramas, each episode follows on from the other in terms of having one storyline throughout the series.
Although not crucial it would be useful to watch the first series before the second as it follows on, despite having new characters. The first series followed the hunt for Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton). Among other things he is paid to abduct a young girl, Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy) and in the end targets Cawood and her grandson Ryan, who is also Royce’s son.
The second series begins with Royce in prison, Ann starting out as a community police officer with Cawood acting as a mentor. There is a shocking murder, discovered by Cawood which will undoubtedly cause her more problems which she could definitely do without. Helping with the investigation is DS John Wadsworth (Kevin Doyle), who is being blackmailed by his psychotic mistress. It is clear John will have to make some potentially devastating decisions in the weeks to come.
Happy Valley can be quite brutal and gruesome at times, sometimes surprisingly so. In other ways it is surprisingly quirky and funny. The characters of Cawood and her sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) have good chemistry. Sarah Lancashire is clearly the stand out in the drama and continues to show how adaptable she is in different roles. The mysterious and chilling character played by Shirley Henderson is bound to cause trouble for Catherine and her family.
“Everyone’s a suspect when I was in HMIT.”
#Peace.Love.HappyValley
