Happy Valley is back soon!

[ILikeToClean]

Just saw the trailer for a new series of this - can't wait!

[carabos]

Is the Claire character meant to be vulnerable / of low IQ? She seems to be played that way. Does she have brain damage from abusing alcohol? There was a reference to her alcoholism between Ryan and Daniel.

[OnlyLovers]

I'm not sure Claire is of low IQ but she's certainly meant to be vulnerable, IMO.

Sarah Lancashire is MAGNIFICENT. Loved the delivery of 'Ive got the Queens Medal for Bravery, I've been to Buckingham Palace and shook the woman's hand...'.

Can someone explain a couple of things for the hard of thinking?

1. So Vicky drugs John's pint and takes him to the hotel. Takes photos while he's passed out. He wakes up enough to go to the bathroom and to the corridor, then the next thing we see he's dressed, in his car, but clearly just coming round again.
   
   I don't get how he passed out and woke up twice. Where was Vicky? Did she drug him again after he woke up in the hotel?
   
   
2. Is Nevison G a bit dodgy? I seem to dimly remember that his company wasn't completely straight, or he had a connection to the drugs bloke who ran the caravan park, or something.
   
   
3. Who is the young man whose wife has kicked him out and is crashing with Catherine? Her son?
   
   I agree Shirley Henderson is a penpal who's fallen in love with Tommy Lee Royce. She was terrifying, particularly at the end, standing in the rain.

[ClaraLane]

I completely missed who the woman in hospital and the new PCSO were, oops! Loved the Harry Potter/Downton Abbey cast ensemble though.

[LizzieMacQueen]

1)I don't think John would need to be drugged again. I think the awakening scene in the hotel and then him waking in the car shows that at first he thought he had imagined the hotel scene - I thought he looked a bit relieved when he awoke in the car and mentally goes 'thank god that was a bad dream'
Vicky had already taken her pictures by then as evidenced by the pink feather on the bed. I guess she drugged him with the date rape drug.....

2)Nevison is a good guy who's daughter was kidnapped and raped by the Tommy Less character in series !. The drugs bloke in the caravan park organised the kidnap along with the company's accountant.

3)It is Catherine's son - Catherine and he were estranged a little in series 1 because of the little boy. I think Daniel couldn't accept his mum playing happy families with little Ryan - the child his sister conceived when raped by Tommy Lee.

Thanks for the info on 'Neil' - it was Cucumber I remember him from (did you see the other Cucumber actor as the police officer?)

[OnlyLovers]

Thanks Lizzie. I know Vicky took the photos before he woke up; I remember the feather.

But did he wake up a bit in the hotel, as we saw, then pass out again? Enough for her to dress him, put him in the car and move him out to the street without him remembering?

I'd forgotten about the accountant. He didn't get a pay rise, or something, right, so decided to take revenge? I still thought there was something a bit shady about the company, its finances or something though...

[MorrisZapp]

Universally ecstatic reviews across all the papers today.

I actually missed Neil double taking on Catherine's police badge, glad I have you lot.

[Lottapianos]

I loved series one, although it was brutal in places, and thought this episode was fabulous. Sarah Lancashire is just perfect - mind you, she's perfect in everything she's ever been in. The dialogue is wonderful. James Norton is great as Tommy Lee Royce too - he's such an utterly vile character. Turns out that big bad rapist really loved his mummy And he's still blaming Catherine for everything! I dread to think what kind of horrors his new, potentially unhinged, penpal has in store for her

I thought the Neil and Claire scenes were lovely. Really hoping it doesn't all go horribly wrong for her!

I did a bit of silent cheering during the pub scene between John and Vicky. She was so calm and cool but menacing too. She's been having it off with a married man so has nothing to be proud of, but I enjoyed her toying with him and asking questions like 'how do you know I won't make life difficult for you?' I also thought the photos she took were fairly tame - but was that a gay porn mag next to his head?

Can't wait for next week!

[2rebecca]

I thought the bunny boiler scormed woman was OTT. I also found the familiar characters confusing as I recognised errant policeman's wife so presumed she'd been in series 1 but couldn't remember a mistress from that.
There are too many total fruitcake women in it for my liking (bunny boiler and mad moaning myrtyl). I'm worried it will become silly and unbelievable. It's well down that path already with drugged photos of the cop. He seemed too sane to pick an obviously off her trolley mistress who looked like she'd be too skinny for good sex anyway.

[FarrowandBallAche]

Waited forever for this to return. Loved every minute.

[StillStayingClassySanDiego]

I don't recall Nevison being dodgy in the first series, other than Kevin thinking Nevison owed him more money for being a loyal employee. I think the bloke he sacked might cause him some grief this series.

[lizzydrippingsghost]

i thought the woman who was at her mothers bedside (the kidnapped one in series 1) wasnt the same person as catherines new collegue.
did anyone else find the sound abit crap i had to keep turning the telly up

[Lottapianos]

Catherine's new colleague is Anne, the hostage from series 1. Yes, the sound was dreadful in the scene where Anne and Catherine were coming down the stairs together

[FarrowandBallAche]

No Nevison isn't dodgy. Well he wasn't in the first series!

[lizzydrippingsghost]

thanks lottapianos your right, im glad you cleared that up else id have been for the rest of the series

[rattata]

Nevison is not dodgy AFAIK but the accountant was aggrieved by the lack of pay rise and by the fact that his father and Nevison's father apparently came up with the idea for the business together. Accountant's father went off to uni and came back to find Nevison's dad had set up the business alone and offered finance director job rather than partnership to accountant's dad. - Think that was what was said in series 1.

[ootsideinbacktaefront]

The female farmer she's been in stuff before, I like her. Does anybody recognise her?
I really struggled with the sound.

[FloraFurball]

Yes ratatta that's how I remember it. The accountant (played brilliantly by Steve Pemberton - who played Claire's husband in Benidorm) asked Nevison for a big pay rise or to pay his DC's fees for private school. Nevison's refusal and the festering resentment about his DF being cheated is what led to the kidnap plot.

[theliverpoolone]

Glad it wasn't just me that couldn't hear it properly! It's frustrating when they think realism means talking really fast and mumbling! Otherwise, I enjoyed it, but did spend a lot of time trying to remember all the back stories rather than focusing on what was actually happening.

I thought last series they'd said Claire was a recovering drug addict?

[southeastdweller]

2rebecca Do you mean the character or the actress is OTT?

I don't agree he seems too sane to start a relationship with her. She's articulate, attractive, holds down a job. I can see why he would go with her, especially if she made the first move as he's not exactly George Clooney.

She's going to extreme lengths, but if you're middle-aged and maybe think this is your last chance of happiness after being the OW women for two years and investing too much in that relationship, who knows what any of us would do in that position...

And btw, some men are turned on by thin women

[theliverpoolone]

And I also did struggle to get over Amelia Bulmore being anyone other than the boss in Scott and Bailey!

[Clawdy]

I can't believe John will give in to the vengeful girlfriend. Those photos looked almost like a set that could have been taken on a very drunken stag night. They would be very embarrassing but not necessarily life-changing. That story line is not ringing true for me, although not as hard to swallow as the one in the last series where the resentful employee decided to arrange the kidnapping of his boss's daughter.

[2rebecca]

The character. I think an intelligent woman would have worked out that if a married man with kids hasn't left his wife after a couple of months he never will. If she wanted him to leave she should have told him to leave his wife and then they'd have a relationship. If she has a good job why does she want 1k a month to be a kept woman? It's all so degrading. She's effectively saying she's just a prostitute who wants paying for sex.
Asking for 1k a month just makes no sense unless she was only after his money. To get revenge she should have just sent the text, although that probably ensures she never gets a man again. She just comes across as totally deranged. I found her really unbeievable, it's a man's idea of what a vengeful mistress could become.

[HairySubject]

I really enjoyed it and can't wait to see where it goes.the last series was brutal to watch at times (the policeman getting run over to start) but I couldn't stop watching.

[StillStayingClassySanDiego]

The actress who played the Farmer was a nasty character in Cracker a few years ago now; Susan Lynch is the actress iirc, she's been in other things but I don't recall in what else.

[FarrowandBallAche]

Yes I remember her in Cracker. She's aged well hasn't she? Hardly looks any different! lucky cow