Inside Happy Valley’s nail-biting finale as fans learn who cops it for killing Joanna – & could there be another series?
AFTER six nail-biting weeks and three series over nine years, BBC One cop thriller Happy Valley concludes tomorrow night with a sensational climax.
Writer Sally Wainwright said there will be “a very big face-to-face showdown.”
Police officer Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, has been pushed to the limit by psycho Tommy Lee Royce, played by James Norton, who escaped from custody last week.
Actor Con O’Neill, who plays Catherine’s brother-in-law Neil, has promised that creator Sally has given the drama – set in West Yorkshire’s Calder Valley – an incredible send-off.
He said this week: “When I read the script for the last episode, it blew my mind.
“For Sally to bring it home the way she has, it’s just beautiful.”
With so many gripping, intertwining plots and twists, TV Editor Rod McPhee poses the eight big questions that fans need answering in the finale.
Happy Valley is on BBC One tomorrow at 9pm.
CAN IT BE LEFT OPEN FOR ANOTHER SERIES?
SHOW creator Sally Wainwright has insisted this is “very definitely the final season.”
But might the ultimate plot twist be that there is more to come?
Everyone is assuming that the third series will come to a neat end tomorrow.
But then we expected the same with Line Of Duty – and that is set to return this year with the REAL ending to the AC-12 story.
Perhaps Tommy will survive a showdown with Catherine and go back on the run, maybe pursuing her if she ever heads for her dream post-retirement trip to the Himalayas.
WHO’LL COP IT FOR KILLING JOANNA?
SHE ended up beaten to death with a rolling pin by frantic pharmacist Faisal Bhatti, played by Amit Shah.
But her abusive PE teacher husband Rob, played by Mark Stanley, is in the frame because he found the body.
The fact that Catherine has already noticed they had a coercive relationship (and after 16-year-old Ryan’s run in with Rob too), she has him in her sights.
But CID aren’t making any assumptions.
They have already identified that the illegal tranquilisers Joanna, played by Mollie Winnard, was taking must have come from someone – and they are likely to lead them to the killer chemist.
WILL THE KNEZEVIC THUGS GET WHAT THEY DESERVE?
CRIME henchmen Ivan Sertic and Matija Jankovic will do whatever Darius Knezevic tells them to.
Their extortion of chemist Faisal has contributed to his deadly behaviour, and they helped Tommy escape from prison.
But the pair are on the back foot with Catherine on their trail.
They also risk the wrath of Knezevic himself after lying about stealing money from their last job together.
Ivan, played by Oliver Huntingdon, already has a broken nose after failing his boss.
Happy Valley fans will hope he and Matija, played by actor Jack Bandeira, both get banged up tomorrow – if only to stop Ivan going on about his imminent marriage.
WHAT’S TOMMY GOT IN STORE FOR CATHERINE?
Does her ultimate foe simply want to kill Catherine?
The fact that he demanded a gun from crime boss Darius would suggest so.
But could it just be the means by which he gets her to do his bidding?
After years in prison he may have more lingering painful punishment in store for her.
That might include her enduring the same kind of pain he feels he has endured, first after the death of his mother then languishing behind bars.
So Tommy might just take revenge on one of her loved ones, perhaps her sister, Clare, played by Siobhan Finneran, or even the worst thing imaginable – killing Ryan his own son (Rhys Connah).
The trailer showing a bloody Tommy seemingly in Catherine’s house certainly suggests he exacts some kind of revenge on the family, as do shots of Catherine sobbing inconsolably.
WILL RYAN TURN ON HIS DAD TOMMY?
HE has confessed that he feels sorry for his father because he was born so evil, and Ryan might have had his heart melted when Tommy admitted to him: “I do love you, you know” on last week’s show.
So there is still a chance he might just go along with Tommy’s plans to flee abroad.
On the other hand, he has twice stated the chilling phrase: “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
So Ryan might just turn in his twisted dad to police – just as soon as he finds out where he is.
Or he might decide to do some something more drastic . . .
Ryam may have been enraged by further revelations about what cruelty Tommy meted out on Ryan’s late mother.
Alternatively, he could be drawn to the idea of finally having a dad.
WILL ANN CRACK AND DO SOMETHING STUPID?
AS one of Tommy’s former victims, Ann Gallagher has been on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to her discovery that Ryan was visiting him in prison.
And since Tommy broke out of custody, Catherine’s daughter-in-law has looked like she might just be tipping over the edge.
Her rant to Ryan in which she detailed to him just how evil Tommy had been to his mother was proof that she is losing control.
So there is always the risk that Ann, played by Charlie Murphy, might do something even more stupid that would leave Catherine and the whole family in peril.
WILL DARIUS KNEZEVIC GET RUMBLED?
GANGSTER Darius is at the centre of a sub plot that’s run through series three.
The underworld kingpin, played by Alec Secareanu has been involved in plots to launder money and order killings, all on Catherine’s patch.
Worse than that, he helped Tommy escape from custody at his court hearing in Leeds.
That means he is now free to target Catherine and Ryan with whatever criminal plans he has in store.
Catherine’s former husband Richard, played by Derek Riddell, is also getting dangerously close to Knezevic – and despite warnings from his ex wife, he seems determined to meet him.
Could Richard be the one to shop him as he attempts to become a local politician, or will that be left to Catherine too?
WILL THE CAWOODS STAY TORN APART?
CATHERINE has already told Ryan he can’t live with her after he sneaked off to visit Tommy against her wishes.
And in an onslaught on her sister Clare, played by actress Siobhan Finneran, she has said things which are almost impossible to take back.
If the dust settles after the current crisis, can Catherine repair her own family, which now seems to have been irreparably torn apart?
And even if Tommy ends up back behind bars or dead, will the Cawood clan ever be the same again?