Streaming on: BBC iPlayer
Episodes viewed: 3 of 6
Sergeant Catherine Cawood, as portrayed by Sarah Lancashire, is a formidable and magnificent human being, but she carries a heavy burden. She strides around bearing the literal weight of being a police sergeant, with all the associated paraphernalia and equipment attached to her hefty uniform. She also carries an underlying and unyielding weight of grief and fury.
Her daughter, Becky, was raped by local psychopathic criminal Tommy Lee Royce and took her own life after she gave birth to Royce’s son, Ryan. Now Ryan is 16, and lives with Cawood, but there’s an awareness gnawing away at her that Ryan might still be keen on forming a bond with his imprisoned father. Her ultimate nightmare.
While the subject matter could hardly be darker, the series has an entirely authentic mordant humour.
By now, the ongoing conflict between Cawood and Royce, with young Ryan between them, feels almost primordial. Royce, who sports a new look clearly meant to invoke Jesus Christ, is an indelible human stain on Cawood and her family’s existence, and Lancashire and Norton are both extraordinary at embodying these unforgettable characters. And while they continue to drive the immensely powerful narrative in this third and final series, there’s a new, instantly enthralling thread involving a local chemist (Amit Shah), a bullying teacher (Mark Stanley) at Ryan’s school, and his prescription-drug-addicted wife (Mollie Winnard).
Within minutes of meeting them it feels like we’ve known these characters for years. But what happens to them is startlingly shocking. This storyline also provides a powerful new angle on the show’s unflinching depiction of male violence, control, and abuse. Yet while the subject matter could hardly be darker, the series has an entirely authentic mordant humour and unflashy yet bleakly beautiful backdrop which somehow makes it a joy to watch.
There’s a grandeur to Sally Wainwright’s conception matched by Lancashire’s role-of-a-lifetime performance which puts Happy Valley way up there in the pantheon of British TV drama achievements.
