Happy Valley, the TV series: "laughless fargo" in West Yorkshire

This deserves its own thread so we can celebrate the relentless, inescapable grimness of this amazing show. A warning - don't read very far down the Wikipedia page, folks! It's dark and full of spoilers. Instead, enjoy some choice quotes from the rolling Netflix recommendations thread:

Happy Valley is fantastic.

― dan selzer, Thursday, January 8, 2015 11:24 AM (two years ago)

Caught up on Broadchurch. What's next for depressing overseas crime/social rot wallowing? The Fall?

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Monday, February 22, 2016 10:39 AM (58 minutes ago)

happy valley

― jason waterfalls (gbx), Monday, February 22, 2016 12:38 PM (one year ago)

Yeah happy valley is my favorite of this bunch.

― Jeff, Monday, February 22, 2016 12:43 PM (one year ago)

thx would have overlooked happy valley

is The Bridge still on streaming?

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Monday, February 22, 2016 1:40 PM (one year ago)

happy valley was pretty brutal

― tylerw, Monday, February 22, 2016 2:29 PM (one year ago)

season two of Happy Valley!

― erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, March 16, 2016 10:39 PM (one year ago)

season 2 of happy valley v good! and as happy as ever

― just sayin, Wednesday, March 16, 2016 10:54 PM (one year ago)

very excited about season 2 of happy valley. season 1 was some of the of the best tv i've ever seen.

― dan selzer, Thursday, March 17, 2016 12:30 AM (one year ago)

p stoked for happy valley 2, i generally think uk dramas are total shit most of the time, nowadays often ineptly trying to ape golden age of tv american prestige cable programming but coming off amateur and try-hard but i just thought the first season was superbly acted, tense, beautifully shot etc. (one criticism: underclass psychopath villain was too handsome)

― uncle tenderlegdrop (jim in glasgow), Thursday, March 17, 2016 1:32 PM (one year ago)

ok hinterlands took a left turn into pointlesstown, it's not as great as first thought

so i tried Happy Valley instead
YES

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, June 13, 2016 1:56 AM (one year ago)

Love happy valley

― scarcity festival (Jon not Jon), Monday, June 13, 2016 7:40 AM (one year ago)

the end of episode 4 / start of episode 5 of the first series of happy valley has stuck with me, the brutality and the way they handled it.

― koogs, Monday, June 13, 2016 7:59 AM (one year ago)

haven't watched season 2 yet but season 1 of happy valley is amazing

― dan selzer, Monday, June 13, 2016 8:08 AM (one year ago)

yeah it's great

― jason waterfalls (gbx), Monday, June 13, 2016 8:39 AM (one year ago)

i keep getting stuck on happy valley. i've started it twice. get a little further each time though. i'll go back to it. kinda reminds me of a laughless fargo.

i still haven't finished lady dynamite either.

i started watching southland on hulu...

― scott seward, Tuesday, June 14, 2016 9:35 AM (one year ago)

Guys whoa Happy Valley. This thread is working!

― Hadrian VIII, Thursday, June 30, 2016 10:14 AM (one year ago)

right!?

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, June 30, 2016 10:20 AM (one year ago)

How hardgoing is Happy Valley? We like non-gory crime stuff and want something new to watch, but have had a difficult few weeks after a family issue. Will this just make us more depressed? I previewed the first 20 mins of the first episode and it seemed kind of larky.

― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, July 1, 2016 4:38 PM (one year ago)

I don't remember it being especially gory, but it is definately dark and depressing. I'd say skip it.

― dan selzer, Friday, July 1, 2016 4:48 PM (one year ago)

no real gore from what i remember, but definitely one (shockingly) violent scene

― koogs, Friday, July 1, 2016 5:26 PM (one year ago)

it's rough

the violence is spread out but pretty full-on when it happens. even the implied stuff is rough. it's more the emotional intensity, lots of family trouble throughout. if you're in a dark place i would leave off for a while

i'm 20 yrs past my family shit & it still triggered me something fierce

fucking great show though. jesus.

― Flamenco Drop (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, July 2, 2016 3:27 AM (one year ago)

Just watched the first episode of Happy Valley. I'm in.

― Neptune Bingo (Michael B), Saturday, July 2, 2016 9:19 AM (one year ago)

I'm kind of disappointed in you all for not giving Happy Valley its own thread

― As an ilxor, I am uncompromising (El Tomboto), Sunday, August 20, 2017 6:42 PM (yesterday)

do it!

― Squeaky Fromage (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, August 20, 2017 6:44 PM (yesterday)

And here we are.

well I've never heard of this but it sounds right up my alley

the way they introduce the main character in the pilot is a very stone soup assemblage of grim-up-north cliches but it all works (I think)

Sarah Lancashire obviously great in this but so is Siobhan Finneran. I didn't twig for ages that she was one of the girls from "Rita, Sue and Bob Too".

So was Nevison!

2nd season can be skipped. the case from the past doesn't work, and the present situation can easily be extrapolated from season 1.

I'm going to have to see this just because it was shot in the Calder Valley!

I've enjoyed all the Sally Wainwright shows I've seen so far. Though need to go back and watch the thing on the Bronte sisters through.

Now just found out that there are a lot more than i thought there were.

Really liked Scott & Bailey the thing about 2 female Manchester police until she stopped writi8ng when there is a noticeable quality drop.

& last Tango in Halifax is really good but is about a geriatric love story combined with the stories of the couple's grown daughters so has a pretty different feel. Writing is really great though.

Watched a couple of episodes of Last Tango - didn't recognize anything at all, literally nothing. Turns out they mostly filmed it in Cheshire.

2nd season can be skipped. the case from the past doesn't work, and the present situation can easily be extrapolated from season 1.

― Einstein, Kazanga, Sitar (abanana), Tuesday, August 22, 2017 9:24 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ignore me. I was thinking of Broadchurch, oops. I've watched both.

I think Happy Valley is pretty solid throughout.

So this, at last, seems to be the grimdark small town murders & mayhem UK procedural made for me. I've wanted and failed to like every other one I've seen but Happy Valley delivers! Just started the second series, though, so I suppose there's still time for it to disappoint.

I guess they're working toward a third series soon-ish?

(one criticism: underclass psychopath villain was too handsome)

― uncle tenderlegdrop (jim in glasgow), Thursday, March 17, 2016 1:32 PM (one year ago)

Agreed. He was effectively creepy but Britt Daniel was still probably a casting mistake.

S3 EP1 didn't disappoint. Great stuff.

yeah, caught this last night. Do like Sarah Lancashire in Sally Wainwright stories.
Hope they do something else after this.

Was Mare of Easttown conscious of this show cos it does seem like a close US equivalent

A friend completely missed a "filming in progress" sign and walked into a Hebden Bridge newsagent, to pick up his Racing Post, while this was being filmed. I had a hope that somehow he'd make it into the final shoot ...

a laughless fargo

When I saw this my first thought was that it was a typo for 'farrago', then I realized it was a typo for 'Fargo'.

in my unending quest to discover well observed inclusion of texting in TV dramas i enjoyed when she typed 👍🏽x and then carefully deleted the x before sending

Just had a look online for those tiny mobile phones. NOt really been something I've thought of but assume that what I had as a phone 10 years ago could easily be miniaturised to a size much smaller than what I had it as. & standard may have more functions.
Just did strike me years ago taht any machinery one had to interface with should be prototyped to see how it engaged physically with the size of ones hands etc. Seems anything that small might just be overly fiddly. Also just saw comment saying that some of them are not compatible with all phone networks. So wondering how practical they are.
Still interesting thing to have available.

Dunno if this season was as good as the prev two seasons, but I enjoyed it. I don't think the show is laughless - some of my favorite moments are the banter between Catherine and her sister or Joyce. Always a refreshing counterpoint to how grim everything else is

Agree the Mare of Easttown seems like the American equivalent of this show

wish i'd've watched the recent Drama repeats before the new series - the gap was far too long.

I enjoy this show (and find it often quite funny) but CHRIST is it ever grim. Lancashire makes it worth the price of admission:

you know how it makes West Yorkshire look a pretty grim and forbidding place? well the part of WY I live in is even worse, lol.

I think it's one of the few shows that earns its grimness.

Excellent finale. I quite liked the "don't give them the airtime" approach to the baddies this season, almost all dealt with offscreen.