Even James Norton appeared to be at a loss for words following the Happy Valley conclusion.
On Sunday night, Sarah Lancashire’s character, Sergeant Catherine Cawood, battled infamous criminal Tommy Lee Royce (James) in a tense duel, bringing Series 2 to a dramatic close.
Viewers have praised the episode as ‘unbelievable,’ with many fans demanding that the cast earn all of the accolades for keeping the nation on the edge of their seats over the last several weeks.
Following the amazing conclusion, James posted a nice photo with co-star Sarah, demonstrating exactly how excellent they are at their professions, because there was absolutely no resentment off-camera.
James posted the lovely photo on Instagram with the simple caption ‘#happyvalley,’ wrapping his arm around lead actress Sarah.
Sarah wore her police uniform while James wore Tommy’s sweatshirt, both looking as pleased as punch as they smiled for the camera.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoTAuwSrcu3
Naturally viewers were keen to heap praise on the TV stars for their performances, with some famous faces also unable to hide their amazement after the finale.
Singer Jessie Ware commented: ‘That was unbelievable 👏👏👏’
Saying what we’re all thinking, BBC Radio 1 DJ Greg James commented: ‘It’s actually a joke how good that episode was’.
‘Perfect finale 🙌🙌’, praised Gabby Logan, while Anita Rani wrote: ‘Perfect ending. Happy valley a major moment in British TV history already. Congratulations to you and the entire team 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽’
Continuing the stream of praise, one fan added that they were ‘gutted’ Happy Valley won’t be back on their screen.
‘Absolutely incredible acting from you both. No big chases or explosions needed. Pure class from the whole cast 👏👏👏’, wrote another.
In the last episode, the two engaged in a fierce slanging battle until Tommy doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire.
Later, it was found that he died in a hospital after being in a coma, sealing his fate.
Earlier in the episode, Tommy escaped a set-up that appeared to be orchestrated by Darius Knezevic, played by Alec Secareanu, before making his way to Catherine’s house and breaking in through the basement window.
Tommy, who had been stabbed while escaping the set-up, began thumbing through her photo albums, smiling at infant images of his son Ryan and grieving at pictures of Catherine’s daughter Becky.
Ryan, played by Rhys Connah, was the kid Becky gave birth to after being raped by Tommy, following which Becky committed herself.
In the last episode, set on Catherine’s last day as a police officer after 30 years of duty, she notices a broken basement window at her house and sneaks in before seeing Tommy at her dining table.
A vicious exchange of words unfolds between the two until Tommy declares that he has forgiven Catherine.
During the heated discussion, Tommy revealed that Darius had murdered Gary Gackowski eight years before.
Ivan Sertic (Oliver Huntingdon) and Matija Jankovic (Jack Bandeira) were both detained in a spectacular police raid on accusations of wrongful imprisonment, money laundering, and helping Tommy in escaping lawful custody in the episode.
Ivan was detained barely two hours before his wedding ceremony.
In the episode’s conclusion, Catherine deduced that it was pharmacist Faisal Bhatti, portrayed by Amit Shah, who murdered his next-door neighbour Joanna Hepworth, played by Mollie Winnard, when she threatened to denounce him for illegally providing her with diazepam.
Happy Valley is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
