A magnificent but troubled heroine finally gets her ending in ‘Happy Valley’

What TV shows are dominating the conversation, capturing the zeitgeist, have something interesting to say, or are hidden gems waiting to be uncovered or rediscovered? We take a look ahead of your weekend watch. And, be warned, there are spoilers ahead.

If you’re a fan of “Happy Valley,” its hero, police Sgt. Catherine Cawood, likely had you at hello.

Or more accurately, “I’m Catherine, by the way. I’m 47, I’m divorced, I live with me sister, who’s a recovering heroin addict. I have two grown-up children, one dead, one who don’t speak to me, and a grandson.”

Such was our introduction to Catherine, played by the wonderful Sarah Lancashire, as she tried to talk a drunken man out of setting himself on fire because his girlfriend left him.

You might remember in 2021 the rapturous reception to “Mare of Easttown,” in part because it featured a flawed female cop with a messy personal life grounded in a very specific and idiosyncratic place. With apologies to the brilliant Kate Winslet and Brad Ingelsby, Lancashire and Sally Wainwright got there first.

Mare and Catherine are very different, of course, but they share the trauma of losing a child to suicide and the burden of raising a grandkid at an age when they should be done with child-rearing.

“Happy Valley” debuted in 2014, set in the Calder Valley in Wainwright’s native West Yorkshire, the region that is also the setting for her acclaimed shows “Last Tango in Halifax” and “Gentleman Jack.”

But after two gripping seasons that premiered almost two years apart in the U.K., “Happy Valley” disappeared, leaving fans desperate for a resolution to Catherine’s knotty story (here in North America, the show truly disappeared for some as it was no longer available on Netflix after March 2020).

Thankfully, a third season finally arrived, seven years later. It began streaming in Canada on Acorn and AMC Plus in May.

Headstrong, no-nonsense Catherine is still a force to be reckoned with in these final six episodes, both on the job and at home, although it seems initially she might finally find a measure of peace in her pending retirement.

But the discovery of bones in a reservoir opens a murder case that implicates Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), the man who raped her daughter, Becky, and whom she blames for Becky’s suicide; who brutally killed a beloved police colleague; who raped a kidnap victim who later became Catherine’s daughter-in-law; and who beat Catherine herself nearly to death.

There’s a lot of hatred on both sides and it’s complicated by the fact Tommy is the father of Catherine’s grandson, Ryan (Rhys Connah), now a teenager, who has defied Catherine to pursue a relationship with the imprisoned Tommy.

Against that backdrop, Catherine carries on with her police work. This season’s cases relate to the illegal prescription drug trade and include the murder of an abused wife and mother with a Diazepam habit.

But it’s the unfinished business between Catherine and Tommy that gives the season its drive.

The method of bringing them together for a final showdown strains credulity somewhat, but a showdown they must have. And it’s not the black-and-white, good-vs.-evil, fight-to-the-death confrontation you might imagine. In fact, it’s a strangely intimate although tense encounter in which Wainwright makes Tommy seem more human than at any other point in the show.

It’s hard to call it a happy ending, but happiness seems like an overreach anyway for someone as roiled by guilt and regret as Catherine. (The series’ title, as it happens, has nothing to do with happiness but derives from a bit of black humour among local cops who nicknamed the area for its drug problem.) But contentment seems within reach and that’s a more realistic goal for this show’s magnificent but troubled heroine.

A dynamo plays the first modern lesbian

Sally Wainwright reached into the history of her beloved Yorkshire for her period drama “Gentleman Jack.”

Although you could say that all the women in Wainwright’s shows are strong — and her shows are mainly about women — Anne Lister might be the most vigorous of them all.

In real life, Lister has been described as the first modern lesbian. She was an anomaly in the England of the early to mid-1800s: well educated, a world traveller, masculine in her dress, and deeply involved in the management of her family’s estate and in the coal industry. She also “married” another woman, Ann Walker, in 1834 and they lived together at her estate of Shibden Hall (which still stands) until Lister’s death at age 49.

Fortunately, Wainwright found another dynamo to play Lister: her frequent collaborator Suranne Jones. The British actor, known for “Coronation Street” and “Doctor Foster,” brings Lister to life with an abundance of energy, intelligence and wit.

Sophie Rundle (“Peaky Blinders”) plays the more reserved Ann Walker.

Unfortunately, unlike “Happy Valley,” there won’t be a third season of “Gentleman Jack,” not unless a streamer saves the day. The series was cancelled after HBO pulled the plug, reportedly because of low ratings. That’s no excuse not to watch, however.

The drama, which incorporates Lister’s diary entries into the dialogue, often deals with topics such as coal mining, estate management and local politics that might seem dry, but Jones charges through the scenes with an intensity that can be electrifying.

It’s a tour de force that’s worth checking out.

Debra Yeo is an editor and a writer for the Star’s Culture section. She is based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @realityeo

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