Happy Valley (TV series)


Happy Valley is a British crime drama television series filmed and set in the Calder Valley, West Yorkshire, in Northern England. The series, starring Sarah Lancashire and Siobhan Finneran, is written and created by Sally Wainwright, and directed by Wainwright, Euros Lyn, and Tim Fywell. The first series debuted on BBC One on 29 April 2014, and the second series debuted on 9 February 2016. In May 2015, Happy Valley won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series. A third series is currently in development.

Episodes

Series 1

Catherine Cawood is a strong-willed police sergeant in West Yorkshire, still coming to terms with the suicide of her teenage daughter, Becky, eight years earlier. Cawood is now divorced from her husband and living with her sister, Clare, a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict, who is helping her bring up Becky's young son, Ryan, the product of rape. Neither Catherine's ex-husband nor their adult son, Daniel, want anything to do with Ryan. Catherine hears that Tommy Lee Royce, the man responsible for the brutal rape that impregnated Becky and drove her to suicide shortly after Ryan was born, is out of prison after serving eight years for drug charges. Catherine soon becomes obsessed with finding Royce, unaware that he is involved in the kidnapping of Ann Gallagher, a plot instigated by Kevin Weatherill and orchestrated by Ashley Cowgill. Things quickly take a dark turn as the abductors scramble to keep the kidnapping secret, although Catherine is on to them.

Series 2

Eighteen months after the events of the first series, Catherine Cawood is back at work and has won the Queen's Police Medal for gallantry, for rescuing Ann Gallagher from Tommy Lee Royce, who is serving a life sentence in prison. But when Royce's mother is killed, Catherine finds herself implicated in a string of murders. While trying to prove her innocence, Catherine is tasked with investigating a human trafficking operation linked to the serial killings. Meanwhile, senior HMIT officers Detective Superintendent Andy Shepard and Detective Inspector Jodie Shackleton begin to suspect that the supposed fourth victim of the serial killer, Victoria Fleming, was murdered by someone else. Gradually their investigation starts to lead them towards Victoria's actual killer—police detective John Wadsworth, who Fleming had been blackmailing. Catherine's grandson, Ryan, develops a friendship with a new teaching assistant, Miss Wealand, who is secretly a prison groupie infatuated with Royce. Royce, who the court has forbidden having any contact with Ryan, is using Wealand to try to build a relationship with Ryan and get revenge on Catherine. Ryan increasingly concerns his family by asking questions about his father and even suggests Royce should be forgiven.

Cast

On 22 November 2012, Ben Stephenson announced the commissioning of Happy Valley for BBC One. The programme was written by Sally Wainwright, produced by Karen Lewis, and directed by Euros Lyn, Sally Wainwright and Tim Fywell.
Filming began in the Calder Valley in November 2013. Locations in the area included Todmorden, Luddenden, Mytholmroyd, Bradford, Keighley, Sowerby Bridge, Hebden Bridge, and Heptonstall. Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford, Leeds and other West Yorkshire cities are mentioned, though not main filming locations. A former police station was used for some scenes, and additional filming took place at North Light Film Studios at Brookes Mill, Huddersfield.
The name "Happy Valley" is what local police in the Calder Valley call the area because of its drug problem.
In the series one premiere episode, Ryan points out to Catherine, who is visiting her daughter Becky's grave in the next row, that visitors have left pens at Sylvia Plath's grave.
A second series was commissioned on 18 August 2014. Filming began in August 2015, and the first episode was broadcast on 9 February 2016. The second series was written by Wainwright, produced by Lewis, and directed by Lyn and Wainwright. Catherine's workplace is a former police station in Sowerby Bridge, and her home and local pub are based in Hebden Bridge. The prison scenes were filmed at Oakham Enterprise Park in Rutland, which was Ashwell Prison until its closure.
The main character 'Sergeant Cawood' is mentioned in the third episode of the fifth series of Last Tango in Halifax, which aired on BBC One, 9 March 2020. This series was also created and written by Sally Wainwight, set in Halifax, and also stars Sarah Lancashire.

Reception

The first episode aired on 29 April 2014 at 21:00. It garnered 8.64 million viewers, and it was the second most watched show of the week for BBC One. The BBC reported that the show received an average consolidated audience of 8.21 million viewers, over six episodes, and an additional 8.1 million requests for the show on BBC iPlayer. Radio Times called Happy Valley a "word-of-mouth hit" which "steadily became a success outside the normal audience for the slot and channel."
After "Episode 1" aired, Ofcom received four complaints under the category "violence and dangerous behaviour", but they did not pursue the matter.
Reviews from the media have been overwhelmingly positive, and the show has received 100% rating critic review on Rotten Tomatoes. However, some reviewers have criticised the show for its graphic content, especially in "Episode 3" and "Episode 4".
In response to the criticism, Happy Valleys creator-writer, Wainwright, defended the show as "a quality, well-written drama" and stated, "Judging by the amount of email, texts, tweets I've had, I don't think anyone is asking me to apologise." In an interview with Radio Times, Wainwright said the level of violence had been carefully considered and it was done responsibly, by showing the psychological and physical damage suffered by Catherine.
Other critics have praised the show. Vicky Frost of The Guardian wrote: "To get hung up on the violence of this BBC1 kidnap drama misses the point. It is beautifully written by Sally Wainwright, draws an astonishing performance from Sarah Lancashire—and between them, they have created something truly unmissable." Gerard O'Donovan of The Telegraph called Happy Valley "complex, thrilling and brilliantly written and acted", and "one of the best watches of 2014." In September 2019, The Guardian ranked the show 11th on its list of the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, calling it "a corrective to cliche-ridden and frequently blokey police procedurals", and one that "pulsated with poignant realness".

Awards

In May 2015, Happy Valley won the BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series. In 2014, it had won a TV Choice Award for Best New Drama; Sarah Lancashire was named Best Actress at the same time. The series was also voted the best TV programme of 2014 by readers of Radio Times.

International

Awards and nominations

AssociationCategoryNomineeResult
BAFTA Television AwardsBest Leading ActressSarah Lancashire
BAFTA Television AwardsBest Supporting ActorJames Norton
BAFTA Television AwardsBest Drama SeriesHappy Valley
BAFTA Television Craft AwardsBest Director: FictionEuros Lyn
BAFTA Television Craft AwardsBest Writer: DramaSally Wainwright
Banff Rockie AwardsBest Procedural DramaHappy Valley
Broadcast AwardsBest Drama Series or SerialHappy Valley
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsBest ActressSarah Lancashire
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsBest Drama SeriesHappy Valley
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsBreakthrough AwardJames Norton
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsWriter's AwardSally Wainwright
Crime Thriller AwardsBest TV DramaHappy Valley
Crime Thriller AwardsBest Leading ActorSteve Pemberton
Crime Thriller AwardsBest Leading ActressSarah Lancashire
Crime Thriller AwardsBest Supporting ActorJames Norton
Edgar AwardsBest Television Episode TeleplaySally Wainwright
Monte-Carlo Television FestivalBest Drama SeriesHappy Valley
Monte-Carlo Television FestivalBest Actress in a Drama SeriesSarah Lancashire
National Television AwardsBest Drama PerformanceSarah Lancashire
RTS Programme AwardsBest Actor Sarah Lancashire
RTS Programme AwardsBest Drama SeriesHappy Valley
RTS Programme AwardsBest Writer: DramaSally Wainwright
RTS Programme AwardsBest Editing: DramaJamie Pearson
RTS North-West AwardsBest Single Drama or Drama SeriesHappy Valley
RTS North-West AwardsBest Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series Steve Pemberton
RTS North-West AwardsBest Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series Sarah Lancashire
RTS North-West AwardsBest Script WriterSally Wainwright
RTS North-West AwardsBest Production Red Production Company
RTS North-West AwardsBest Post-Production 'production team'
Satellite AwardsBest Mini-Series Made for TelevisionHappy Valley
Satellite AwardsBest Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TelevisionSarah Lancashire
South Bank Sky Arts AwardsBest TV DramaHappy Valley
TV Choice AwardsBest New DramaHappy Valley
TV Choice AwardsBest ActressSarah Lancashire
Writer's Guild of Great Britain AwardsBest TV Drama - Long FormSally Wainwright

AssociationCategoryNomineeResult
BAFTA Television AwardsBest Leading ActressSarah Lancashire
BAFTA Television AwardsBest Supporting ActressSiobhan Finneran
BAFTA Television AwardsBest Drama SeriesHappy Valley
BAFTA Television Craft AwardsBest Writer: DramaSally Wainwright
Broadcast AwardsBest Drama Series or SerialHappy Valley
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsBest ActressSarah Lancashire
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsBest ActorJames Norton
Broadcasting Press Guild AwardsWriter's AwardSally Wainwright
Irish Film & Television Academy AwardsBest Supporting Actress in a Television DramaCharlie Murphy
National Television AwardsBest DramaHappy Valley
National Television AwardsBest Drama PerformanceSarah Lancashire
Peabody AwardsExcellence in Entertainment TelevisionHappy Valley
RTS Programme AwardsBest Drama SeriesHappy Valley
RTS Programme AwardsBest Writer: DramaSally Wainwright
RTS North-West AwardsBest Single Drama or Drama SeriesHappy Valley
RTS North-West AwardsBest Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series Kevin Doyle
RTS North-West AwardsBest Performance in a Single Drama or Drama Series Sarah Lancashire
RTS North-West AwardsBest Script WriterSally Wainwright
RTS North-West AwardsBest Production Red Production Company
RTS North-West AwardsBest Post-Production 'production team'
Satellite AwardsBest Actress in a Series, Drama/GenreSarah Lancashire
TV Choice AwardsBest Drama SeriesHappy Valley
TV Choice AwardsBest ActressSarah Lancashire

Home media

released Happy Valley series one on DVD, in regions two and four, on 16 June 2014. The DVD includes two discs, featuring 351 minutes' worth of footage, and has an age certificate of 15. All six episodes of the series were released on iTunes, both in standard and high definition.
On 20 August 2014, the series was further released on Netflix in Canada and the USA, marketed as a "Netflix Original".
In the summer of 2016 series 1 of Happy Valley was released on Netflix in the UK and is currently repeated on the channel W. A year later series 2 was released on Netflix in the UK.