30 March 2015

Anything 'but' a happy valley....

How many of you were kept riveted and on the edge of your seats by the Happy Valley drama that was on TVNZ last year? Did you even watch it? Shame on you if you haven't! We missed it at the time but sat down and watched the whole series (only six hour-long episodes) recently.




We've also watched The Missing and Broadchurch (Season 2) recently but I really felt like Happy Valley was in a league of its own for intensity of drama, gripping story line and outstanding acting.

You might first have to get past the fact the main actor policewoman Catherine Cawood from the depths of the drug-ridden Yorkshire valleys (played by Sarah Lancashire) might well be familiar to you as a bar maid in Coro Street in a previous life that is. Her acting is truly sensational in this show, I promise you!

In my humble opinion it had a lot of parallels with Breaking Bad in its intensity, but unlike Breaking Bad which if you stayed the distance there were 5 seasons of anywhere up to 13 episodes per season to get through, this is just a mere six episodes to taunt you, and terrify you with the story line that unfolds.




The villains seem almost decidedly normal to begin with, especially the hard-done-by middle aged accountant who sets in motion a chain of events that he couldn't have even begun to imagine, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear that the main protagonist is deceptively dangerous and cruel beyond belief, whilst Catherine cast as the policewoman who little-by-little uncovers the plot, is herself from an incredibly dysfunctional family history that is unwittingly linked with her main target which makes for riveting if not somewhat harrowing watching at times.





I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout episodes 3 and 4 and both Mark and I actually found it difficult to get to sleep the night we finished watching episode 4 the adrenalin was coursing through our veins so much! To me that is the sign of a great show - although perhaps we should have finished watching it a couple of hours before trying to sleep!

Did you watch it when it aired on TV? If so, what did you think? If not, have I convinced you to watch it now?!


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