'Happy Valley' Season 1 Recap

Lancashire delivers a tour de force performance as Catherine, packing as much bite and sternness into the thick Yorkshire dialect as possible. She’s witty and snappy, but always compassionate; there’s a kindness in the ways she (sometimes) treats her younger staff. But the way she views her unruly grandson is complicated by the constant reminders of her grief, fearing Ryan will grow up to be like his dad. The news of Tommy’s release from prison affects her in endlessly thorny ways, ones that are only hinted at by her constant fixed, tight-lipped expression.

It takes less than an episode for Tommy to get involved in another heinous crime. A mealy-mouthed accountant, Kevin Weatherill (Steve Pemberton), is frustrated that his boss, Nevison Gallagher (George Costigan), won’t grant him a raise to put his kids through private school, so in a very Fargo-inspired move, he brokers Nevison’s daughter Ann (Charlie Murphy) to be kidnapped by local caravan-park owner/drug smuggler Ashley (Joe Armstrong) – with Kevin getting a cut of the ransom money. Pemberton’s brand of sniveling, mealy-mouthed characters can often verge on the grating, but he’s refreshingly restrained as Kevin, showing a lot of pointed, self-interested scheming and groveling.

Together with fellow laborer Lewis Whippey (Adam Long), Tommy kidnaps Ann and keeps her in a dilapidated house in Calder Valley – but Lewis is increasingly concerned with Tommy’s predisposition for violence. Tensions between the criminals grow after Tommy rapes Ann in the basement she’s trapped in, but soon they relocate to one of Ashley’s caravans after Catherine is spotted in the area looking for Tommy.