Shortly before the Happy Valley finale aired, it was reported that five different endings of the hit BBC drama had been filmed, so that even the actors involved would be surprised by the ending. But in reality, we knew that one of two things would happen: either super cop Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) would win, or resident serial killer Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) would get away with all his evil acts. In the end, thankfully, it was Tommy who came off the worst.
But while the kitchen table showdown scene showcased the mighty talents of both Lancashire and Norton – and will undoubtedly win many awards, come the next season of ceremonies – many fans had a slight issue with the finale.
With the Catherine and Tommy story at an end (leading to Catherine finally getting closure for her grief that’s driven her over three series) all the other plot-lines and Calder Valley murder cases were just neatly explained away in a chat with her Detective Superintendent. Gangster overlord Darius? Got ‘im. Sadist teacher Rob Hepworth? Paedo. Pharmacist Faisal? Pill-pusher and neighbour to Joanna, therefore probable murderer. Wait, so, all that effort that we were meant to invest in the periphery storylines… didn’t really matter in the end?
On Twitter, a heap of viewers came to the same conclusion about the ending: that it was rushed.
But, as it clocked in at over 70 minutes, some people wondered if these storylines just got lost in the edit:
And finally, someone who just wanted a bit more – another episode or two?
Still, with the BBC revealing that Happy Valley was watched by an overnight audience of 7.5 million viewers, it’s one of the broadcaster’s most popular finales of all time. Rushed or not, it’s certainly going down in the history books.
All three series of Happy Valley are now available on BBC iPlayer.
