Happy Valley - jump right in or start from season 1

[Readybrek999]

I keep seeing all the good reviews of the latest season.
Do I need to go back to season 1 before watching?

Thanks.

I said why, it's funny, most of the characters are engaging and well-rounded, I can care about the characters. The social class differences are striking, I love the interior decour & how they never take their coats off. The landscape is terrific & I like the accents & idioms. The dialogue is excellent, The subplots are good, not predictable. Just the main plot has some aspects I can't tolerate.

I don't watch TV so I may be easily pleased by those kinds of things, btw, but DH who does watch a lot of TV has also enjoyed HV.

You don't have to like everything about a show to still basically enjoy it.

The 1st Inspector Rebus books is terrible for the awful tropes, but the subsequent books & short stories get much better, more interesting, subtle, character-led, funny quirky atmospheric moments instead: HV is like that. It happens a lot in crime drama, the 1st version is formulaic with all the stupid events that never happens in real policing/detective work, and then ... the premise develops. An exception being Call of Duty which actually degenerated from sharp & original into more and more ridiculous.

I can recommend 3 Pines for similar reasons as HV, btw, but only the TV series, not the books. The books may be chocka with tedious tropes.

I find it hilarious that the writer is mostly known for scripts on The Archers.

A baffling take. Even the most avid The Archers/R4 listeners must surely be aware that she's become one of the most prolific TV writers of the past 20+ years? According to Wiki she did two years for The Archers finishing in 1988.

I find it hilarious that the writer is mostly known for scripts on The Archers.

You’ve got that completely and utterly wrong. She’s mostly know for writing the most engaging, widely watched, TV dramas.

ah well, I was misinformed then. I did not know other viewers pay attention to who TV script writers are. Every day's a school day. Do other people decide what telly to watch based on who the writers are?

@lljkk I did not know other viewers pay attention to who TV script writers are. Every day's a school day. Do other people decide what telly to watch based on who the writers are?

Of course they do. Don’t you ever choose to read a new book because you like the author? It’s a similar thing.

She's known for a bit more than just The Archers... and of course people choose TV and films based on the people involved in them - writers, directors or actors - especially such a brilliant writer as Sally Wainwright!

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Wainwright

I find it hilarious that the writer is mostly known for scripts on The Archers.

She wrote for the Archers for a short while a long time ago and since then has written, Unforgiven, Gentleman Jack, Last Tango in Halifax and many more so given that the Archers is fairly niche (I'm a fan) I hardly think that's what she is best known for.

If you don't like it you don't have to watch it. I never watch anything set in a school and DH will never watch anything set in a hospital because it's too easy to spot things that wouldn't happen.

Start from the beginning. We managed to get through the whole lot in a little over a week - we are on holiday though and can compensate the late nights with late morning a though.

Absolutely loved it - got a bit of withdrawal sadness now though.

I really want to see AnnGallagher (seems to be only one name ) and Ryan successful in their foreshadowed careers.

I skipped Season 1 completely because that looked the very worst for the tedious tropes I can't tolerate.

How do you know if you didn't watch it?

You have to start from Series 1. You won't regret it. It is brilliantly written and acted all the way through. I actually miss Catherine Cawood now I've finished it!

Only just watched s1 and halfway through s3. Definitely worth watching.

Can I just ask, as someone just about to finish series 1, are series 2 and 3 as hard a watch? Or worse? Episodes 1-3 were just over my line - had to read a couple of episodes’ summaries for the upcoming episodes so I knew where it was going. I am a bit of a wuss though.

@WeCome1 I watched the second series before the first and have always said if I had started at the beginning I'm not sure I could have stuck with it. It was too brutal for me in places. The second and third are not as difficult a watch.

What are the tropes you can't tolerate? Genuinely interested

Series one was very tough. So far series 2 is not as bad.

@lljkk i always love the “I don’t watch tv” while discussing tv programmes. You do watch tv - just not much of it 😄.

Thanks! And @NashvilleQueen

I’ll give 2&3 a go.

Isn’t it Sowerby Bridge they’re talking about (it was in series one, anyway).

Catherine lives in Hebden Bridge but criminal activity is taking place in Sowerby Bridge and parts of Halifax.

We’ve binged 1 & 2 now so hopefully start 3 tonight!!!
I’d love to discuss some of what we’ve seen so far.

Go for it justdance I could talk about it all day! I'm having serious withdrawal!

I've just this second finished and come looking for threads.
I rewatched 1&2 first.
@WeCome1 series 1 is definitely the hardest watch IMO.

Me too. Its a measure of how good it was that we are still talking about it 2 weeks later.

I’ve just started series 1 this morning and now I’m a bit worried that it’s being described as ‘grim’ and ‘very tough’! Am I going to hate it? Having only seen half an episode, things have already been set up to go very very horribly wrong

It's tough in places, and it's not sugar coated. But you won't regret it.