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Happy Valley Review

Published

11 years ago

March 4, 2016

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Unhappy Valley

♦ Tripwire sent senior writer Andrew Colman with his cloth cap and whippet to review the first four episodes of the second season of BBC1’s police drama Happy Valley TV show.

Happy Valley Season 2 episodes 1-4

Producers: Sally Wainwright, Nicola Schindler

Stars: Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, James Norton, George Costigan

Sally Wainwright’s gritty police drama continues to be an anomaly as far as mainstream British television is concerned – an immensely assured series not set in a major city, with an actress as the lead, with little in the way of hi-tech procedurals and overly flashy, filmic direction. Furthermore, it’s not only the best crime drama on British television, it is also currently the only must-see show transmitted by the BBC, and one that in any way rivals what is being produced across the pond.

The ironically named series (so-called due to the drugs problem besetting this rural town), based in the leafy Calder Valley of West Yorkshire, is in the tradition of shows such as The Lakes, in which a seemingly placid town has an invasive element of urban-style social issues and organized crime. Indeed, the basic premise could only work in such a close-knit, hermetic place. Police Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is the focal character of the show, who we learn in series one is in mourning over the loss of her daughter, who committed suicide after being raped by psychotic villain Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton). There’s a remarkably dark twist here, however, that acts as one of the key narrative motors – she opts to bring up her grandson, conceived due to the rape, and Royce takes strong issue with this. Of course this factor underpins her domestic life, and leads to further tribulations with Royce, imprisoned at the end of series one.

The gruesome end of series one provided a distinct amount of closure – its strength lay in Catherine being tested to the brink, not just as a survivor and grandmother but also in terms of her identity as a police officer. The canard of organized crime being behind the kidnapping that brought Royce into its orbit dovetailed perfectly with the naturalism of the two leads’ stand-off. In series 2 the story diffuses somewhat, with several sub-plots coming into play – Catherine’s sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran)’s returning alcoholism and new partner, Detective Sergeant John Wadsworth (Kevin Doyle)’s brinkmanship and troubles with a jealous, scheming girlfriend who threatens his marriage and career, and Frances Drummond (Shirley Henderson), an obsessive woman in thrall to Royce, who is hell-bent on revenge against Catherine. Added to this mix is the inevitable arrival of a new serial killer, the murder of a significant character or two, and the presence of an organized gang of human traffickers, as if the poor town didn’t have enough problems already.

Despite all these conflicting elements, matters rarely stray onscreen, with everything once again successfully meshing. If at times the action does segue into the hyperreal, there are the performances to marvel at – Sarah Lancashire, who for some absurd reason missed out on a BAFTA for this series, is magnificent – her performance consistently believable and consuming as she is shunted from one crisis to the next. Also deserving praise is Siobhan Finneran as her broken yet sympathetic sister – a study in flaky vulnerability that often gets overlooked (as she is often a dead weight for Catherine!) And then there is Kevin Doyle’s turn as the deeply troubled DS Wadsworth, a man so index-linked with his own perceived doom that you genuinely feel his burden, not to mention Amelia Bullmore as the heartless Vicky Fleming – all of these veteran actors have had so much previous in dramas (and soaps) set in this region that their characters all exude their collective home town, regardless (as the title song says) of their enforced desperation within it.

Happy Valley is a police drama that contains the usual nuts and bolts of forensic investigation, station politics and bureaucracy, and graphic crime scenes, but nothing here is overcooked, with everything seamlessly conflating with Catherine’s thankless, often traumatic journey – there is noir, black humour and warmth here, which makes it a rare combination of timelessness and throwback. Available on Netflix in the U.S. and Canada (subtitles might be required for our North American friends as certain characters tend to mumble), this show may not have the reach, breadth or context of The Sopranos but it might just be Britain’s kitchen sink version of such a crime series (albeit with a policewoman rather than a mafia capo as the lead!). If there are things the two shows have in common, they would be the fusing of familiarity with the alien, and the unwieldy parallels between home and career. Needless to say, strongly recommended.

ANDREW COLMAN