Happy Valley Series 2

I`ve just read a report that says that halfway through filming this second series, Sarah Lancashire says she won`t be reprising the role of Catherine Cawood for a 3rd series. Hope she changes her mind.

I enjoyed the series very much. It seemed to me the stakes were a lot lower this time around, but regardless I still enjoyed it.

Bit much that every character had problems
Yes, there was no-one 'normal' (whatever normal is), not even her son who had an affair when his wife was having their baby.

I have just finished watching the series, I prefer to record the lot rather than wait week to week. I enjoyed this series but I did find some accents difficult to understand, Catherine seemed more so this time and I doubt I understood a quarter of what the school teacher said. Bit much that every character had problems , I hope there is another series though

Gosh, Maggie what a time to live through! I saw a programme quite recently about Olive Smelt -she was in the hairdresser's and explaining how her hair had to be styled in a certain way, due to the attacks. There was another woman too, a teenager at the time-who has since been acknowledged as one of Sutcliffe's first victims. There are probably others, too.

The one thing I remember about the investigation is how the tone of the investigation changed when the teenager in Leeds was murdered. She was not a prostitute, and I remember her being proclaimed as an "innocent" victim; the subtext being that the other victims somehow were....not so innocent?

Maybe it's easy to say with the benefit of hindsight, but the Wesrside Jack element of the investigation seems unbelievable now.

Yes, Josephine Whitaker was killed there. And Olive Smelt was attacked, but survived. She always insisted that her attacker had a Yorkshire accent, but the police were taken in by the Wearside Jack tape. I was interviewed at the time about my family as I lived in the area but hailed from the North East. One of the victims was found in the next street to my student flat in Bradford. It was a very scary time all round. And a lot of the police investigation would have been dismissed as too fanciful if it had been presented as a work of fiction.

Yorkshire Ripper murders must've been terrifying for women living in the area. I remember the "Reclaim the Night" marches. And yes, there was one in Halifax, wasn't there? In Savile Park? Interesting how, after all the resources and the false lead, Sutcliffe was caught when a suspicious copper thought he heard a clink when Sutcliffe was having a pee and went back to check....

It's not so far-fetched though when you remember that Peter Sutcliffe killed at least 13 women in the area over 4 or 5 years not long ago (well, it doesn't seem that long ago to those of us who lived through the fear).

Catherine reminds me a lot of Jane Tennison of Prime Suspect. I just can't imagine Catherine being cuddly. But she's compassionate and caring ss well as tough and imho flawed too. Great character.

Another place to avoid when house-hunting
Too dangerous!

Yes, Catherine is to the Calder Valley what Morse ( and now Lewis) is to Oxford.Bodies pile up , the more the merrier.

It's amazing how something so grim, and filmed in mostly bleak surroundings can be so entertaining.

It was gripping and very well done. Bring on Series 3, but as others have mentioned, what major crimes will Catherine have to solve then? Poor woman must be totally traumatised, given she has stumbled across so many dead bodies and been 'lead copper' in solving all the mysteries in the area. It's no wonder she doesn't move her lips when she speaks - she must be exhausted.

It would be rather nice to see her smiling, letting her hair down and enjoying family life for a change, but would she lose something by becoming a smiley, middle aged woman? She never worries about buying bread, what's for dinner, doing the Lottery, putting her feet up in front of the telly with a bottle of wine, etc. I know she had a night out with colleagues but she had to be drunk before she loosened up. She seems to be on-call all the time, even when she's not. She and her sister always have 'serious' conversations too. Poor Ryan. Never mind his Dad, he's likely to be badly affected later by the down in the mouth, preoccupied, older women in his life who never seem to do cuddles or happy bedtimes.

I suppose if the writer gave her more facets/dimensions the general darkness of the series would be lost. (Oh and when I discuss this with others we have to remind ourselves it's only TV drama! )

Jalima Together they may be the answer to all major crime. Bit like Batman and Robin really

I thought Happy Valley was grim but very gripping and well acted. I thought Cuffs was very good too and I'm sorry it's not being re-commissioned.

trisher
Don't forget the intuitive PCSO Ann!!

No

Jalima you don't need a detective squad, just one dedicated police officer like Catherine-all crimes will be solved, people arrested and support and counselling provided. OMG you don't think this series is a subversive way of persuading us that police numbers can safely be cut do you?

I have finally had time to watch the last epidsode. It was brilliant.
I rather thought that John Wadsworth would probably top himself one way or another. He really had no way out.

The odd bit about John trying to tell Catherine how to talk down a potential suicide was rather bizarre but the sort of surreal conversation that sometimes goes on in impossibly stressfull circumstances.

Now compare this well acted, well written drama of Happy Valley with the cliche ridden "Cuffs" police drama. I watched one episode of that and gave up. Well done again BBC

we can all pick out faults in whatever drama etc we watch..bit like your Holby City/Casualty etc etc
Casualty was better when it was filmed in Bristol (the new hospital looks like legoland or a Morrison's warehouse).

I know, but some mistakes do irritate and distract from the nitty gritty

Of course it is, Greyduster. I've been there, even drunk a pint in the Rovers.

You mean Coronation Street's NOT A REAL PLACE!!!!!

Yes, a while ago! Would have to recast I think!

I think we can all pick out faults in whatever drama etc we watch..bit like your Holby City/Casualty etc etc ...but I enjoyed the drama as I'm sure many others did, if you don't think outside the box too much, at least it was filmed on location in real actual places that do exist and not in cardboard cut out land like Coronation street etc...although I'm sure some of the scenes were perhaps built specially.
All programs will have their critics.

I would love another series of "Mistresses"

That final scene with John was a classic, like something from a black comedy sketch show!