Happy Valley is back soon!

[ILikeToClean]

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

My mums an alcoholic and I found that hard to watch.

Thanks Private - and to you to, well done on the recovery :) Hope things are ok for you.

Brilliant acting from Siobhan; quiet and meek to aggressive and unpredictable.

Hard viewing but so bloody gripping.

I think Catherine would have clocked the small figure waiting at the funeral and then sat behind Tommy.

Aarrgh, had to pause while ds1 had something to tell me, apparently it was important ( it was not)

Claire was brilliant, fantastic actor, they all are, never realised the man in the van was Neville ( Harry Potter)

I knew Catherine would get into trouble for going to the funeral but I can understand why she went.

The ta is going to kidnap Ryan isn't she.

for you all, it's a tough road, wishing you all the best

How did Moaning Myrtle walk into job as TA? Is she trained and CRB checked? Was there an interview?

Those last scenes between Catherine and her sister were very realistic and hard to watch. My husband died a few years back and watching Sarah Lancashire begging in the street just triggered a lot of bad memories.

Sally Wainwright must have direct experience of alcohlism in families, that's all I can say.

Sorry, I should have said my husband died as a result of alcoholism - hence the memories.

I wondered that too Cooroo. Round here you have half the mums from school, who have already been voluntary TAs for months, fighting for every paid post. No need to recruit from hundreds of miles away. There's a bit too much predictable stuff this time round. Knew the bunny boiler would end up dead and am sure Claire's new boyfriend will be suspected for it. But it's still brilliant. Loved Winnie: 'Lock the door.' 'Oh I thought I'd leave it wide open with a sign saying Traffickers This Way.' All the acting is so brilliant.

I did wonder that too, Cooroo, but then I thought it might be just another twist to come. Do we know how she knows Tommy? I had her down as one of those women who fall in love with murderers and write to them, or did I miss something?

That got a bit silly. It was all too anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Why not have some slapstick and a man walking along the road with a large wooden plank turning and hitting people as well?
Agree a newcomer with presumably a dodgy past walking straight into a teaching assistant job at 1 particular school is v unlikely and Sarah Lancaster deserves to be sacked for going to that funeral. It was very pointless. Senior police should have better judgement.
And then there's pc plod strangling bunny boiler. Mad.
The first series was so good as well. This one has no subtlety. Have they got the new Archers script writer to do it?

That was great!

I liked the picture being built up of Catherine as part of a community, with people around outside work who care about her. And there's such depth in carrying on from the first series. Though I'm not happy about the detective's lovely wife now being married to a murderer.

The landscape is terrifying in this context. It makes all the little human beings seem so defenceless in the face of whatever evil sweeps down on them.

New Archers SW?

Is there one?

Anyone else remember Winnie as Catherine Howard in Six Wives of Henry VIII back in the '70s?

I don't remember, though I may well have watched it- but I can see she must have had a perfect Holbein face.

I've woken up shaking my head over their local mafia threat and the total inadequacy of the police protection. An alarm? No glamorous witness protection or relocation to Shetland ...

SArah Lancashire and her sister's scenes were brilliant weren't they. So very moving.
Sarah Lancashire all over just brilliant.

I agree the Claire and Catherine scenes at the end were great, so believable. Siobhan Finneran is such an underrated actress.

I hope Claire doesn't end up murdered! It's unusual for a main character to be killed off but then Sally Wainwright did that in the last series of Last Tango in Halifax.

I don't think Claire will get it, I bloody hope not. How much grief (Cath) can one leading character be left with?

Bloody brilliant episode. I can't take the high drama!

I love how the writer skips straight to the action and ruthlessly pares away any exposition or storyline spoonfeeding. For once, I feel I'm being treated as an intelligent adult.

And you lot can explain the missing bits to me :)

The subtle comments & behaviour regarding Claire's alcoholism were very accurate. Definately written by someone with knowledge of the disease.

I found it very difficult to hear.
I had no idea what Catherine was saying at times. I'd turn up the volume to try and decipher what was said then background music would come on and deafen me!!!!