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Original poster

Happy Valley. I don’t get it

258 replies

BillyNighysWife · 05/02/2023 14:48

It seems everyone thinks Happy Valley is the best thing ever. I started watching series 1 recently to find out what all the fuss was about. I found it quite watchable but I really don’t think it’s great. It seems to be full of cliches about people. Despite its dark subject matter there is a cloying, mediocre English cosiness about it. Sarah Lancashire is good and as an older woman myself it’s great to see older women as main characters in big narratives. But there have been great, strong women in soaps for decades. What is special about her character and what she does in HV? I don’t get it.

It seems to be very similar to Mare of Easttown, except that was better.

Does anyone agree with me or am I on own with my strange opinion?

OP posts:
Calmdown14 · 05/02/2023 17:12

It's the tension created by ordinary people making bad choices and getting in over their heads which I think really make it.

I think it depends what you want from it. It's definitely not about the case as such so although it's police focused, it's about more than the crime.

I love Sally Wainwright's writing. She creates proper northern warmth (these are not people who wouldn't answer their door or start a Mumsnet thread because someone came round without an appointment!)
Some might see it as clichéd, others as very real. It's much like not getting the Royal Family. Perhaps if it's not relatable to you then it misses something.

EmmaEmerald · 05/02/2023 17:13

NooNakedJacuzziness · 05/02/2023 16:51

The acting is out of this world, especially Sarah Lancashire. It's not pretentious. I can relate to the way of life, the houses, etc, in a way I can't with most US series, e.g. The Watcher - who the hell needs a house that big for 4 people?? I love gritty.

I loved The Watcher! I'd live in a house like that if I could afford it.

Really hope OP expands on the "cosy" thing. Of course I get that people like different things, I just didn't really see how "cosy" is a word that could be used for Happy Valley.

Sillybanana · 05/02/2023 17:21

Cosy is a very strange description of the show..could you expand on that?

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TV
Nimbostratus100 · 05/02/2023 17:30

Id say Happy Valley is watchable , but story lines are very weak. I'm not up to date with the current series. Series 1 and 2 were ok, whiled away a few hours when Im ill and bed bound. So far series 3 has lowered the bar somewhat. Its still ok, I like some of the characters, but but the story is poor quality.

I agree, noone in real life rates it particularly, or even talks about it, but there is a lot of media hype

Hups · 05/02/2023 17:34

I tried to watch it when it first started, but I couldn't get into it.
Plus all I could see with Sarah Lancaster is Raquel, which was distracting.

VioletaDelValle · 05/02/2023 17:34

I agree, noone in real life rates it particularly, or even talks about it,

Depends who you talk to I guess.... everyone I know loves it. It's amazing how people like different things isn't it??!

RampantIvy · 05/02/2023 17:34

She creates proper northern warmth (these are not people who wouldn't answer their door or start a Mumsnet thread because someone came round without an appointment!)

Grin @Calmdown14

Some might see it as clichéd, others as very real.

There is nothing cliched about it. It feels very real, even the dark humour.

Original poster
BillyNighysWife · 05/02/2023 17:38

I love the Royle Family.

Although I live in London I grew up in the north west so I identify as a northerner. I find HV cosy because it is quite self conscious and heavy handed about being northern. All of that warm hearted, down to earth directness and strong women cliches. Every northerner I know can’t last more than a few minutes in conversation with a southerner before they have to mention that they are different. Leaving your doors open, talking to people at bus stops blah blah. It’s such a generalisation. HV lays on a lot of that thickly.

OP posts:
thetrees · 05/02/2023 17:44

I don't think the third series has been that great, but it has definitely benefited from a January bounce I reckon. I thought Bridgerton was massively overhyped but that was on during January of the second lockdown so everyone was so bored they just watched it

RampantIvy · 05/02/2023 17:46

I find HV cosy because it is quite self conscious and heavy handed about being northern.

I have lived in Yorkshire since 1980 and can honestly say that this is not a cliched depiction of the type of characters played in this programme. It is an extremely carefully observed true to life snapshot of gritty Yorkshire characters.

People like this drink in our local pub.

RampantIvy · 05/02/2023 17:47

talking to people at bus stops

That does really happen you know.

VioletaDelValle · 05/02/2023 17:47

Leaving your doors open, talking to people at bus stops blah blah. It’s such a generalisation.

As I said, I grew up where it was filmed and don't live too far. It is an accurate depiction of that area. Just because you don't recognise it, doesn't mean it isn't true. These aren't lazy generalisations, it's how people in that area live.

VioletaDelValle · 05/02/2023 17:48

It is an extremely carefully observed true to life snapshot of gritty Yorkshire characters.
People like this drink in our local pub.

100%.

EmmaEmerald · 05/02/2023 17:48

BillyNighysWife · 05/02/2023 17:38

I love the Royle Family.

Although I live in London I grew up in the north west so I identify as a northerner. I find HV cosy because it is quite self conscious and heavy handed about being northern. All of that warm hearted, down to earth directness and strong women cliches. Every northerner I know can’t last more than a few minutes in conversation with a southerner before they have to mention that they are different. Leaving your doors open, talking to people at bus stops blah blah. It’s such a generalisation. HV lays on a lot of that thickly.

Thanks
still completely lost though!

PuppyMonkey · 05/02/2023 17:52

BillyNighysWife · 05/02/2023 17:38

I love the Royle Family.

Although I live in London I grew up in the north west so I identify as a northerner. I find HV cosy because it is quite self conscious and heavy handed about being northern. All of that warm hearted, down to earth directness and strong women cliches. Every northerner I know can’t last more than a few minutes in conversation with a southerner before they have to mention that they are different. Leaving your doors open, talking to people at bus stops blah blah. It’s such a generalisation. HV lays on a lot of that thickly.

I’n not sure what you’re on about OP. They’re all northern in the show, there are strong women in it, conversations take place in northern accents with strong women. Are you saying that just because Coronation Street etc already had northern strong women it, no other show can have that without it being a cliche? Confused

MrsMikeHeck · 05/02/2023 17:54

Personal preference aside, thinking the British version of the Office is better is a fairly niche view.

Original poster
BillyNighysWife · 05/02/2023 17:55

@RampantIvy i know it’s true that people talk to each other at bus stops!! Why would anybody ever think it was unusual and notable behaviour that people talk to each other at bus stops? People do this at every bus stop in the whole world. I grew up in the north east and have lived in a few different places in the south. The only place where people don’t talk to each other is in busy bus stops in big cities. Manchester, London, Paris. It’s nothing to do with the very special warmth and openness of northerners! But northerners think it is.

OP posts:
Suedomin · 05/02/2023 17:56

I think it's great. The writing is so good. I don't see it as cosy drama in any way.
I do love Sarah Lancashire though .

Telephome · 05/02/2023 17:57

BillyNighysWife · 05/02/2023 17:55

@RampantIvy i know it’s true that people talk to each other at bus stops!! Why would anybody ever think it was unusual and notable behaviour that people talk to each other at bus stops? People do this at every bus stop in the whole world. I grew up in the north east and have lived in a few different places in the south. The only place where people don’t talk to each other is in busy bus stops in big cities. Manchester, London, Paris. It’s nothing to do with the very special warmth and openness of northerners! But northerners think it is.

Ah ok, just plain old anti northern prejudice then. Fair do's.

PuppyMonkey · 05/02/2023 18:02

I'm completely lost now.

Maybe it’s cos I’m from the East Midlands.Grin

VioletaDelValle · 05/02/2023 18:03

So OP how would you have written it? If a show that is set in the Calder Valley can't accurately depict what it like to live in the Calder Valley, because that makes it cliched, how should those characters have been written?

What would have made it less cliched but still accurate? Because having lived there ( literally, you see my childhood home at one point) I would have been pretty disappointed if it wasn't a true representation. The realism is what makes it so good for me.

WildRosie · 05/02/2023 18:03

I'd venture that programmes such as Happy Valley, Broadchurch and Line Of Duty are so hyped up that it's virtually impossible for them to live up to the expectations. So, disappointment and underwhelming responses are likely.

Are these programmes any good? I haven't watched any of them.

Original poster
BillyNighysWife · 05/02/2023 18:04

@Telephome I am from Lancashire. All of my family and many of my friends still live there. I just dislike stereotypical representations of northerners.

Anyway, enough people have told me I am wrong about Happy Valley so I will keep on watching. The plot might draw me in.

OP posts:
VioletaDelValle · 05/02/2023 18:05

How much of it have you actually watched OP?

KevinsChilli · 05/02/2023 18:06

I’m the opposite! I think everyone I know says American is better.