State of happiness Series 2 on BBC4

[eleanorwish]

Anyone watching the second series? BBC4 are showing 2 episodes every Saturday. All episodes are available on the I-player.
There's a time jump from the end of series 1, it picks up the story in 1977.

Oh thanks for posting this! I will be watching when I get back. I loved the first series!

I binge watched the whole lot! I won't spoil it for you, but I enjoyed it just as much as the first series.

I binge watched it too and enjoyed it as much as the first series.

Interesting popping back 5 years later to see how the characters have developed and the riches of oil have changed them.

I too loved this - I've just watched S1 and S2 consecutively on iplayer and feel sad now I've finished it. I liked that the characters were largely likeable and i enjoyed googling the historical facts that the drama is pretty accurately based on.

I've also watched it all, one of my favourite TV series. Loved it.

Loved this, thought series 2 even better. Felt the emotion was very well handled with the missing people, I shed a few tears.

Fantastic show - was just thinking about rewatching s1 as was in stavanger recently then saw this thread with s2!

I was in tears too. Have loved this programme.
I liked how the characters weren't just good or bad, like real people. Bad things happen to good people, and vice versa. I found my opinions of characters changed as it went.

Obviously the end had me in tears but I was also in tears watching Ingrid Nyman find a purpose.

Cant wait for series 3.

It's very good.

Has anyone knowledge of why they replaced the original Christian? IMO the actor that was used in season one was better than his replacement. (Maybe the original couldn't sing?!)

It was a different actor?? I said to DH ' I'm sure he was better looking. These 70s haircuts do them no favours'. Oblivious to him being a different human.

I love this series. So much better than the crap we have to put up with on our own channels.

Just finished series 2. Agreed that it is a fantastic series, felt very emotional especially in final 2 episodes. I too loved the fallibility of the characters.

Oo- this is spooky. Just started series one today. It's great!

I caught this thread and am now working my way through the first series. It would never had caught my attention otherwise and it’s a gem of a tv show.

This thread came up when I googled the series. I was a diver in Norway, in Ekofisk during that period. My old friend Leif was the diving technical advisor to the production team. The character Christian, is loosely based on Leif. The events in the series are based in reality, with a certain amount of license taken on chronological order. Technically, the main constraint on depicting the diving was budget, so for example, heliox couldn't be used, and certain bits of equipment were not quite to scale. But, I have to say that it captures the period incredibly well, and is very nostalgic for one who was there. The atmosphere in Stavanger at the time was electric. It was a boom-town and divers came from all over the world to feed the massive demand. But at the same time it was "homely" and the locals couldn't quite believe what was happening. Pretty much all the Norwegian divers were ex navy. The depiction of the Alexander Keilland catastrophe was about as realistic as it could be within the constraints of a tv production. 123 people died that night in a disaster that is remembered in Norway, but hardly anywhere else. It was horrific. I cannot describe what the seabed looked like. RIP to them all.

and I see series three is in BBC player

I've just watched the latter two series over 2 days. Brilliant TV & one of the best things I've watched for a while. I may rewatch the first series again too as I've forgotten a lot of it. Is that really it for this story?