Mark's Best of 2016

Seasons greetings, faithful readers, and welcome to my look back at the best that the idiot box had to offer us in 2016.

Happy Valley: Episode #2.6

"What a shit week!"

Happy Valley finishes off its second season with all the brutal, no-nonsense panache that's become the series' trademark.

Happy Valley: Episode #2.5

"Omniscient and ubiquitous. God, I'm good."

This week, in this trouble town, the serial murder plot gets blown open, Catherine and Ann go out drinking and Frances practices making molotov cocktails.

Happy Valley: Episode #2.4

"Some twisted little git has done it for him."

Another excellent, complicated episode, this time centered about an expensive birthday gift.

Happy Valley: Episode #2.3

Catherine's sad, Tommy is mad, Clare is hungover and John's waking up from his murderous frenzy to an even bleaker future.

Happy Valley: Episode #2.2

"We all know you're not a killer."

Two funerals, a murder and Clare falls off the wagon. In short, another very packed episode of Happy Valley.

Happy Valley: Episode #2.1

"I don't know how you do it."

Eighteen months have passed, and things seem to be spinning out of control again.

Happy Valley: Episode #1.6

Is all well that ends well?

Happy Valley: Episode #1.5

"Do you want some tea?"
"I've broken the kettle."

Episode #1.5 has the feel of being packed with a lot of action and plot points. Much of it happens in the midst of Catherine's fairly unmoving depression and Tommy Lee's static position, eluding capture at an apartment complex. An incredible juxtaposition, really.

Happy Valley: Episode #1.4

"Do you think you're letting this get a bit personal?"

I compared Catherine to a bloodhound in my previous review. It was even more obvious in this episode. When Lynn, Tommy's mother, mentioned the dog in the cellar, Catherine's ears practically went up.

Happy Valley: Episode #1.3

"She said, 'This is all I wanted all my life, and I'm shit at it,' and I should've said, 'No, you're not. You're fantastic, you're lovely,' but I didn't, I just let her dwell on it, so she'd be thinking I'd be thinking that she was shit at it, and I didn't. I don't think that. She wasn't."

Or: the third episode in a row where things simply keep going straight to Hell.

Happy Valley: Episode #1.2

"You love it. You know you do."

The kidnapping of Ann Gallagher goes very sideways, all on its own, but Catherine's determination to dispatch Tommy Lee Royce plays a major role. God, and you are really never not rooting for her.

Happy Valley: Episode #1.1

"That's the usual everyday story of country folk."

Many shows have a terrific opening sequence that cleverly tells the audience what it's all about. Happy Valley takes it to a whole other level, when Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) must talk down a drunken smackhead in a playground who is about to set fire to himself. And talk him down she does. Or more accurately, she gets close enough to douse him in extinguisher foam.

Happy Valley

Season 1 | Season 2 |
Season 3 |
Articles | Cast |

Happy Valley is not your run-of-the-mill British crime drama. This BBC series follows Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) through her not-so-everyday life as a police sergeant dealing with the fall-out of personal tragedy and her problematic family. Happy Valley, created by Sally Wainwright, is a fascinating, engaging and at times heart wrenching story of womanhood and humanity – dark, but with a surprising undercurrent of hope.

Seasons one and two were reviewed by Billie Doux, Heather, and Thomas Ijon Tichy. Season three is apparently arriving sometime in 2023.

Season One

Episode #1.1
Episode #1.2
Episode #1.3
Episode #1.4
Episode #1.5
Episode #1.6

Season Two

Episode #2.1
Episode #2.2
Episode #2.3
Episode #2.4
Episode #2.5
Episode #2.6

Season Three

The third season is airing in the UK in 2023.

Articles

Britannia Rules the Airwaves (2016 article by Mark Greig that includes a segment on Happy Valley)

Cast

Sarah Lancashire (Catherine Cawood)
Siobhan Finneran (Clare Cawood)
James Norton (Tommy Lee Royce)
Rhys Connah (Ryan Cawood)
Shane Zara (Shafiq Shah)
Charlie Murphy (Ann Gallagher)

Britannia Rules the Airwaves

If you thought the almost complete lack of Doctor Who and Sherlock in 2016 meant there's going to be nothing worth watching from across the pond this year then think again. With the help of my faithful servant Igor Paul, I've compiled this selection of the very best dramas that the nation that gave the world cricket, deep fried Mars bars, and the Spice Girls (you're welcome, planet Earth) has to offer.