After a seven-year break, the “pressure was on Sally Wainwright” and the rest of the cast to “deliver the goods” in series three, said YorkshireLive, but we “needn’t have worried”. The whole cast is “phenomenal” and millions have tuned in every week to watch “the trials and tribulations of our favourite no-nonsense Yorkshire cop Catherine Cawood”, played by Sarah Lancashire.
While the plot is a closely guarded secret, “fans are frantically trying to guess the ending to the final ever episode of the series”, said Radio Times.
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An “explosive” trailer released this week hints at a “violent showdown” between Catherine and her late daughter’s rapist, Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), said Katie Archer, TV reporter at Yahoo Entertainment UK.
The clip shows Tommy with a bloody nose, police officers dashing from their desks and Catherine warning that her runaway nemesis is going to be “even more desperate and dangerous”. Tommy has admitted he wants to kill Catherine, who is just days from retirement, “but will he succeed?”, asks Archer.
Revenge or Ryan
On the BBC’s Obsessed With... Happy Valley podcast, presenters Amy Gledhill and Isy Suttie wonder whether Tommy will be “physically” forced to choose between revenge on Catherine or a life with his son, and Catherine’s grandson, Ryan (Rhys Connah). They suggest his “downfall” will come when he attempts both.
Viewers will also find out whether “Ryan really plans to join his father, or whether he is trying to set him up”, said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. “This Sunday can’t come soon enough.”
Fire in the Valley
“Has the ending been staring us in the face all along?” asked one fan on Twitter, sharing the BBC’s promotional image for the show. To the right of the three main characters - Catherine, Tommy and Ryan - is billowing smoke.
Smoke is seen next to Tommy’s abandoned bike in the Happy Valley promotional image
(Image credit: BBC)
Happy Valley enthusiasts have speculated whether Tommy might set fire to Catherine’s house or the house owned by Nevison Gallagher (George Costigan), where the family are hiding.
The Hepworth connection
In The Telegraph, Singh noted that the finale will also reveal how the murder of Joanna Hepworth (Mollie Winnard) fits into the wider storyline. Her killer, Faisal Bhatti (Amit Shah), is indirectly working for Tommy’s bosses, but it is her abusive husband, Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley), who is under suspicion for her death.
Some fans questioned whether the Hepworths’ daughter Poppy (Bonnie Stott) might be hiding something important under the coat she refuses to take off indoors. The “perma-coated, po-faced” little girl is “unimpressed” by being palmed off to her grandma, said Michael Hogan in The Guardian. “Could the Fisher Price Miss Marple have seen something key to cracking the case?”
A quiet hero
Catherine’s crushingly honest conversation with her sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) in the penultimate episode sparked rumours about the ending. “You bore me, you have this idiotic, dependent personality,” said Catherine, warning her sister to “just keep an eye on Ryan”. With Catherine seen crying in the latest trailer, one theory is that Clare will save the day, proving her sister wrong, but possibly losing her life in the process.
Others suspect Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy), another of Tommy’s victims, might be the one to step in. “Given her rage, Happy Valley fans believe Ann may get revenge on Tommy by killing him in the final episode as she has the ‘perfect motive’,” said Metro.
Rosie Kinchen in The Sunday Times hopes a male hero might rise up instead. Happy Valley is a “miserable place for men”, who are either “a psycho” like Tommy and the local Knezevic brother crimelords or “or a drip” like Clare’s partner Neil Ackroyd (Con O’Neill). “I am all for brilliant women,” said Kinchen, “but let’s not get too carried away.” In the name of equality, Kinchen is hoping “it’s Neil who saves the day”.
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Hollie Clemence is the UK executive editor. She joined the team in 2011 and spent six years as news editor for the site, during which time the country had three general elections, a Brexit referendum, a Covid pandemic and a new generation of British royals. Before that, she was a reporter for IHS Jane’s Police Review, and travelled the country interviewing police chiefs, politicians and rank-and-file officers, occasionally from the back of a helicopter or police van. She has a master’s in magazine journalism from City University, London, and has written for publications and websites including TheTimes.co.uk and Police Oracle.
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