Viewers of the last-ever episode of Happy Valley on Sunday night were not left disappointed, as the popular BBC drama finally came to a close after three series and nine years.
And the final episode of the BBC drama lived up to the incredible hype, with many viewers hailing the episode as ‘a masterpiece’ and ‘one of the greatest television finales of all’.
Sarah Lancashire’s lead performance as Sgt Catherine Cawood was lavished with praise from critics and fans alike, as her final showdown with James Norton ‘s Tommy Lee Royce (or as she described it ‘a bit of a tussle’) was deemed the perfect way to end the series.
The finale of the thrilling show saw cop Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) and criminal Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) finally have their showdown as the critically-injured psychopath broke into Catherine’s house.
People are already calling for the show to sweep the Baftas they watched Tommy, who initially planned on setting the house alight, make a U-turn on his plans – including killing Catherine – after seeing photos of his son Ryan (Rhys Connah) with his mum, Catherine’s daughter Becky, and realising he has been given a good life.
Their final face-off also neatly falls on Catherine’s last-ever day as a police office before she retires, with her risking her life to put Tommy out before reconciling with her estranged sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran) outside – where she tells her in a magnificent understatement that she and TLR had another ‘bit of a tussle’ which she ‘won, obviously’.
Tommy later dies after falling into a coma, with the news delivered to Catherine via text message as she visits her daughter’s grave.
Audience members were full of praise as the show finally finished, calling it ‘sublime’ and ‘perfection’ as Happy Valley tied up all of its loose ends.
There was particular noise around the performances of Lancashire and Norton, too, as well as Sally Wainwright’s writing.
‘Tonight, Sarah Lancashire delivered her final masterpiece in Happy Valley. From start to finish, she did not disappoint. This lady is magnificent,’ enthused one fan.
