Happy Valley

Well I watch a heck of a lot of 6 part crime based drama on TV .. and this one is right there at the top. Violent, realistic, heart breaking and tragic. The interplay between the family characters is simply superb. I was not a great fan of Sarah Lancashire prior to watching this, but she inhabits Cawood completely, and there isn't a moment where you doubt the pain she has gone through. We binge watched all episodes (18 in total ) over about 10 days and it would have been shorter if we could!

Surprisingly good for an unknown series.

The Wire but in Yorkshire. And unlike the superficial, cartoonishly hyperbolized girl-power-rah-rah of True Detective Season 4, Happy Valley doesn't reduce its strong female lead to a banally one-dimensional superhero nor does it naively embrace toxic masculinity as a stand-in for feminism. Catherine is heroic yet suffers defeats. She keeps her composure at work, but can still express emotion. She's not a Hollywood-buff ubermensch, but is physically strong for her age and commands respect.

The 2nd serie surpasses the first, which was very good as well. But this one (script, acting, direction) is w-o-w-. The last episode is (despite) all known plots brilliantly exciting and an emotional rollercoaster. And Sarah Lancashire...well...amazing.... EDIT: Serie 3 is poorly written and direction is below average. Ouch.

Happy Valley (2014–2023) ★★★★½ What interests me most in Happy Valley is how differently Catherine Cawood’s instincts serve her at work and at home. As a police sergeant, her suspicion can become useful attention, her anger can become decisiveness, and her refusal to let something go can protect someone who has been overlooked. With the people she loves, those same qualities are harder to live with. The series lets us value her judgment without asking us to accept every judgment she makes. Sarah

Watched one episode. Fairly good but the suspense was just too cringy for me

Dark with some good humour, a must watch!

Lancashire shines as a realistic veteran police sgt. who's own life is in upheaval. If you like well acted crime dramas you could do a lot worse.

Pretty good cop thriller series. Lots of Brit slang and heavy northern England accents, so we had to watch it with subtitles.

Tense