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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To have thought Happy Valley was a gentle female led police show set in the picturesque Yorkshire dales?

108 replies

Greatly · 04/01/2023 14:21

Something like Doc Martin, but with a female lead.

I finally got round to watching the first season, thinking it would be a calming, relaxing show that would help me fall asleep.

Ended up binging the first season and still feeling slightly traumatised! How did i get it so wrong?!

Please no spoilers as i loved it and cant wait to watch the next two although hoping they are a bit less violent 😂

OP posts:
Cnidarian · 04/01/2023 17:14

Oh god no, Happy Valley is one of the least happy things ever to be aired on television! It's good but I'm far too squishy nowadays to watch any more of it, it does not get less harrowing. Can't face season 3, I'm sure it's brilliant, just not for me at this time! I like my murders with a dash of whimsy these days.....

CaptainMyCaptain · 04/01/2023 17:16

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/01/2023 16:08

I was similar, OP, finally caught up with it during lockdown (via Britbox, I think). Wow! Blown away.

I missed Last Tango in Halifax when it was new and my Britbox sub has expired now. Maybe one day I'll catch up with that. I did see the first episode and it didn't seem to be heading in a dark direction, but maybe I didn't stick with it long enough.

Last Tango isn't particularly dark ... mostly (I can think of one incident).

Figgygal · 04/01/2023 17:18

No idea where you got that idea from op
It'd bleak as hell brilliant though

Shortkiwi · 04/01/2023 17:21

Just binge watched series 1 and 2 again this week after watching start of series 3. Soooo good! Brilliant acting all round and great storylines.

snowsilver · 04/01/2023 17:26

If you want somerthing similarly gritty and gripping with a steely female cop I recommend The Fall.

ZombieKettle · 04/01/2023 17:29

Happy Valley is a masterpiece of television. For me, it's like a Western. Catherine is Clint Eastwood but as a Sheriff with her sister as loyal sidekick/deputy. Calder Valley is the Wild West and only Catherine can sort out the bad guys. Bloody brilliant telly.

Original poster
Greatly · 04/01/2023 17:29

snowsilver · 04/01/2023 17:26

If you want somerthing similarly gritty and gripping with a steely female cop I recommend The Fall.

Is that Elizabeth Moss? I have an irrational dislike of her 😂

OP posts:
Original poster
Greatly · 04/01/2023 17:31

Dd2 has returned from work and is demanding we watch the second series

Who am I to deny her

OP posts:
mrsmalcolmreynolds · 04/01/2023 17:33

Tha Fall is Gillian Anderson I think?

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/01/2023 17:35

Yes, Gillian Anderson. Those who want crime with whimsy would be well advised to avoid The Fall. I hesitate to say I enjoyed it, given the subject matter, but I was gripped by it. Jamie Dornan was excellent in it and so was Gillian Anderson.

GerardusMercator · 04/01/2023 17:36

BarbaraofSeville · 04/01/2023 16:50

YABU. It's not set in the Yorkshire Dales for a start and sadly, the area it's set in is no stranger to a history of serious crime (not far from Brady & Hindley and Yorkshire Ripper territory).

I caught a glimpse of a recent one where she was investigating an empty reservoir that must have been filmed last summer and I went to look at that reservoir at the time as it was on the news as being completely empty and remember thinking 'if anyone hid a body in here, they must be getting quite nervous now'. As it happens, a body was found during a previous drought, which is probably what inspired the storyline.

Just coming on to make this exact point. This is not set in 'the Yorkshire Dales'- Calderdale is in West Yorkshire.

Original poster
Greatly · 04/01/2023 17:36

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/01/2023 17:35

Yes, Gillian Anderson. Those who want crime with whimsy would be well advised to avoid The Fall. I hesitate to say I enjoyed it, given the subject matter, but I was gripped by it. Jamie Dornan was excellent in it and so was Gillian Anderson.

I don't mind dark crime but I'm a bit sick of young girls being raped and murdered.

OP posts:
Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 04/01/2023 17:37

I'd give The Fall a swerve, then!

Original poster
Greatly · 04/01/2023 17:37

Yes. The point was I had a very incorrect idea of what it was about.

OP posts:
Original poster
Greatly · 04/01/2023 17:39

(that was to @GerardusMercator )

OP posts:
PuppyMonkey · 04/01/2023 17:42

I avoided it for years thinking it was going to be like one of those twee BBC Tuesday night dramas like Kay Mellor would write, just not for me. Then I saw so many reviews saying how brilliant it was, it got me intrigued and I binged it all in a couple of days. Bloody hell Sarah Lancashire, amazing amazing amazing.Shock

And as someone on the main thread in Telly Addicts pointed out, go and also watch her on Julia the US TV series. She’s amazing, did I mention that? Grin

GerardusMercator · 04/01/2023 17:44

Greatly · 04/01/2023 17:39

(that was to @GerardusMercator )

I see! Sorry for the post! I live in the Dales and a lot of folk seem to have no idea where we are 😆

Justleaveitblankthen · 04/01/2023 17:46

Yep, like others said, avoided it for years then for some reason decided to give it a try.
Was absolutely hooked from the first episode!
Such superb writing and Actors that you almost forget they are acting a role. Casting is superb!
I actually worked on Scott & Bailey, but it wasn't a patch on Happy Valley IMO 😅

Now I have to wait of DH to watch series 1 with me and we only get the chance once a week. Can't wait to move on to the other 2 series' 🤗

Pixiedust1234 · 04/01/2023 17:49

Where is everyone getting the first series from? I have to pay extra per episode but series two is free. And can I just watch it from Series two and still understand the dynamics?

throwaway2023 · 04/01/2023 17:52

Pixiedust1234 · 04/01/2023 17:49

Where is everyone getting the first series from? I have to pay extra per episode but series two is free. And can I just watch it from Series two and still understand the dynamics?

I watched it all on iPlayer

NorthernSoul55 · 04/01/2023 18:00

First two series have been on iplayer, BBC been plugging them all over Christmas and New Year telly, which is just as well because sod all else worth watching!

OoooohMatron · 04/01/2023 18:01

This is on my list of things to watch.

UrsulaPandress · 04/01/2023 18:03

She went to my school.

<basks in reflected glory>

DorritLittle · 04/01/2023 18:05

Such a brilliant series. Incredible writing and acting.

Although Sarah Lancashire will always be Raquel for me.

MyDogStoodOnABee · 04/01/2023 18:05

Well it’s set in the Calder not in the Dales for a start 😂