Happy Valley

2023 - 1 - 8

Post cover — Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

Happy Valley recap: series three, episode two – never has a low ... (The Guardian)

The mystery “man and woman” who had been secretly taking her grandson Ryan (Rhys Connah) to visit his biological father, Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), could ...

She was rescued and reluctantly arrested by Catherine, who later revealed the queasy twist that Alison had been raped by her father, meaning that Daryl was her half-brother as well as her son. Yep, this series is brought to you in association with the word twat. Is the plan to bust out and flee to Mexico with his 16-year-old son? His manipulative pattern was to “pick a fight with a lad at school, usually one without proper parenting at home, knock their confidence, then be the person to pick them up and turn their life around”. Alison repaid the favour by lending Catherine her truck so she could tail Clare and co incognito. In sheer desperation, Faisal told enforcer Ivan (Oliver Huntingdon) that the police might be on to him, thanks to the unhappy Hepworths. Catherine’s sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) and her boyfriend Neil Ackroyd (Con O’Neill) had taken Ryan to HMP Sheffield four times over the past year – always on Saturdays when Catherine was on duty. As Catherine put it wryly: “Ryan’s little old granny turning up dressed like RoboCop didn’t compute, so his undercarriage fell off.” Ryan was in the clear. When Clare had lunch at the ironically named Amigo cafe, Catherine phoned her and gazed sorrowfully through the window as her closest confidante lied to her. When Hepworth’s precious Audi RS4 (as a commenter pointed out last week, a flashy motor for a teacher) was graffitied and his tyres let down, he assumed Ryan was the culprit, so the headmaster summoned Catherine. We picked up precisely where we left off, with Inspector Mike Taylor (Rick Warden) telling Sgt Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) he had “intel from the prison – you’re not going to like it”. In the meantime, our outspoken heroine went ominously quiet around the house – giving Ryan and “weak, spineless” Clare the near-silent treatment.

Happy Valley Series 3 Episode 2 Review: Sarah Lancashire is in a ... (Den of Geek)

Catherine keeps her powder dry in another brilliantly written and performed episode that piles on the tension. Spoilers.

[Alison’s story](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/happy-valley-recap-catherine-tommy-lee-royce-ryan-story-so-far/) of a son born of incest warped by his ill-gotten genes, is of absolute relevance to Ryan’s. [the Kneževićs](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/happy-valley-who-are-halifax-gangsters-knezevics/), whose fingers are in every pie in Halifax and who are making a [Tommy Shelby](https://www.denofgeek.com/peaky-blinders/)-like move into local politics. [Happy Valley](https://www.denofgeek.com/happy-valley/)’s trump card and ruin, because the scenes she’s not in miss her like mad. As ever with Happy Valley, it’s all in the handling of the thing, not the thing itself. [Rhys Connah](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/happy-valley-series-3-cast/)’s scenes as Ryan this episode proved that Happy Valley was right to wait six years for him to keep this part rather than speed things up by recasting. Multiply Catherine’s contempt for the despicable Rob Hepworth by her tamped-down pain and complicated love for Ryan and it was a case of every man for himself. It certainly gave that school meeting a bit of kick. It was an excellent dramatic choice that meant an episode of extra-flinty stares and heavyweight tension. The hurt rage radiating off her in that final scene could power a warship. Issue a series of commemorative stamps. Catherine couldn’t just power a warship in that scene, she was one – gun turrets swivelling at every spineless utterance out of Hepworth’s mouth. Instead of Hulk-smashing her way out of the gaffer’s office and heading straight for Clare as expected when Catherine learned of her sister’s betrayal, she absorbed the shock and kept it all inside.

Happy Valley's Catherine suffers the ultimate betrayal (Radio Times)

Happy Valley season 3 episode 2 reveals who betrayed Sarah Lancashire's Catherine Cawood. Plus, we share our predictions on how the season will unfold.

[subscribe now](http://radiotimes.com/magazine-subscription?utm_term=evergreen-article). The first two seasons are available to watch on However, it's pretty plain to see that the relationship with the sisters will be on a very rocky road going forward. We'll likely hear why and how Clare and Neil became involved in accompanying Ryan. They get chatting with Catherine sat directly behind Clare in the coffee shop she's sat in. They pile into the car, Ryan changing out of his football kit in the back and Catherine tailing their car in Clare mentions that they're in Leeds, with the boys out shopping. She reveals the truth to Richard, telling him that she's not going to confront them but rather, sit and observe them. [who's betrayed Catherine](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/who-has-betrayed-catherine-happy-valley/) ( [Sarah Lancashire](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/happy-valley-sarah-lancashire-radio-times-new-issue-cover/)) after the cliffhanger of episode 1. The usually composed and blunt-speaking Catherine is left visibly stunned by the omission so Mike continues: "Looks like they started visiting him just over a year ago. It's your Clare and Neil Ackroyd – is that her partner? What a turn-up for the books.

The week in TV: Happy Valley; Stonehouse; The Rig; Ukraine: The ... (The Guardian)

Sarah Lancashire returns as the hardest sergeant on the small screen; Matthew Macfadyen plays Westminster's own Reggie Perrin for laughs; and Olly Lambert ...

[The Rig](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rig-Serah-Dlaine/dp/B071JXY9G9) for a straightforward thriller. For all that, like that other macabre watery tale The Terror, The Rig knows how to build a suffocating atmosphere (sweeping cameras; a background pounding like a heartbeat) and remembers to be exciting: smogs; fireballs; Glen doing his growly “Don’t mess with me, I’m an alpha” thing. Other times, the eco/oil theme, while worthy (see also State of Happiness and the latest series of Borgen), skews the script, with clunky asides about sustainable fishing, the Earth’s crust and an extinction event (“The great dying”). [Keeley Hawes](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/keeley-hawes), plays Stonehouse’s spouse, Barbara, as an adoring, unquestioning trolley hostess of a woman, until she finds her bite. A pharmacist (Amit Shah) on the make and out of his depth. Written by John Preston (who wrote the book on which A Very English Scandal was based), it stars Matthew Macfadyen as John Stonehouse, the Labour politician and real-life Reggie Perrin who in 1974 faked his own death, leaving his clothes on Miami Beach. Despite sterling efforts to infuse Stonehouse with bumbling sweetness, he still registers as a shabby chancer; a high-placed grifter who gets caught – and we’ve all had our fill of that. A PE teacher/coercive abuser (Mark Stanley) with a diazepam-addicted wife who has fingerprint bruises on her arms. Turns out that the man who nearly kicked her to death, and is her dead daughter’s rapist and Ryan’s probable father, is connected to the reservoir corpse. Six months on, it’s the 16th birthday of Cawood’s fawn-eyed grandson Ryan (still well played by Rhys Connah). Even as Cawood plans her imminent retirement (a driving holiday in the Himalayas; get her!), trouble is spitting up from the mudflats. In the spirit of “limbering up”, I’d rewatched the first two series: were they really that good?

Happy Valley recap: What happened in series 3 episode 2, as ... (iNews)

Clare and Neil have been taking Ryan to see Tommy Lee Royce in prison · Joanna plans to kill her husband · Ryan's anger issues are getting worse · The walls are ...

According to Joanna, Rob makes a habit of targeting his students only to be the hero to lift them out of the depths. Ryan seems to be his latest project, and I’m sure the warring pair are going to have plenty more scraps. Still, I’m of the opinion that Ryan shouldn’t have anything to do with his evil father, so I hope she finds a way to put a stop to it. All that and his wife is after a brand new decking to the tune of £15,000 and his daughter is nagging him for driving lessons. My advice would be to hand himself in to the police and offer to help them nick the Kneževićs in return for some grace in sentencing. That, and how great it would be to follow Catherine’s (Sarah Lancashire) eventual travels to the Himalayas in her new truck.

Happy Valley episode two talking points, from sister betrayal to plots ... (The Independent)

Catherine Cawood is on the case of her sneaking sibling, while more light is shed on football coach Rob.

When Ryan repeats the turn of phrase “revenge is a dish best served cold” for the second time, it’s almost as if Tommy is in the room with him. The episode ends on a cliffhanger as Catherine walks into the cafe to confront Clare, who has gone all slack-jawed at the mere sight of her sister. For what it’s worth, Clare does look pained when she answers the phone and lies to her sister who, unbeknownst to her, is just on the other side of the window and watching her every move. If scrounging up an extra £1,800 a week wasn’t enough to worry about, Joanna – one of the addicts Faisal has been giving drugs to in exchange for, it seems, sex – wants him to follow through on his promise to buy her a flat so she and her daughters can escape the abusive Rob. He has already admitted to being present at the killing of Gary Gogowski, whose remains Catherine found at the beginning of last week’s episode. She explains that the ego-driven Rob will select a lad at school, pick a fight with him and knock him down so that he can be the one to build him up again. When Faisal resists, she threatens to tell the police that she got the pills from him. It turns out Ryan was not the culprit this time – and that it may even have been Rob himself trying to get Ryan in trouble. And luckily for us, over a five-minute cuppa, the pair spell out everything the audience needs to know. Sergeant Catherine Cawood ( [Sarah Lancashire](/topic/sarah-lancashire)) is rolling up her sleeves to do some good ol’ police work, while Tommy Lee Royce ( [James Norton](/topic/james-norton)) is up to no good and sporting a new hairdo. The local pharmacist’s side hustle selling prescription meds has landed him in hot water with organised crime family the Knezevices who, with the help of a gun and some threats, strongly urge him to start paying up to them. As if that wasn’t enough, he accuses Ryan of drawing obscenities on his car and letting the air out of his tyres.

Happy Valley fans 'work out' Neil is working with Tommy Lee Royce ... (Daily Express)

Happy Valley returned to BBC for the third and final outing on New Year's Day and there was more trouble for Catherine Cawood.

On Twitter, viewers are also certain Neil is the one taking Ryan to the prison with Louise posting: “It’s gonna be Clare & Neil isn’t it..? Sinead Henry tweeted: “I was awake for ages last night wondering who is bringing Ryan to the prison. Taking Ryan to Sheffield? “Then he had his run in at the pub. He was suspicious and nervous around Catherine. With Catherine determined to find out who has betrayed her trust,