Monday, November 07, 2016

Down in the Valley

The valley of this title, Down in the Valley, is for Calder Valley in Yorkshire as represented in the tv series, Happy Valley.

Sue and I watched the first series on Netflix sometime last year and were elated recently when it popped up that there was a new, second series. Since it had been awhile since we had watched the first series, we reviewed that from beginning to end before continuing on to the second season. So, all in all, we enjoyed 12 hours of suspenseful and excellent tv, each season comprising six hour long episodes.

Let's face it the Brits do mysteries such as Inspector Lewis and Inspector Banks, to name just two, ever so well. I can't think of any American series that come up to the mark. Prime Suspect is a case in point. The British version with Helen Mirren was compelling: the American series was not and lasted for only 13 episodes. Some of you might also remember the British Cracker as being ... um ... crackerjack and the American version disappointing.

But as I began to say, the Brits do mysteries really well, and Happy Valley is no exception. Starring Sarah Lancashire (also seen in Netflix', Last Tango in Halifax) as the strong and determined police sergeant, Catherine Cawood and supported by an excellent cast, I predict that this series will absorb you as it did me.

The main antagonist is played by James Norton who in no way resembles the sincerely good vicar character that he plays in the PBS series, Grantchester. He is the main villain in series 1 and still lurks menacingly in the second series. I can hardly fathom that it is the same actor.

I don't mean to go on, but it strikes me that Happy Valley could be easily overlooked as you are searching through Netflix fare, and it really really shouldn't be. I just thought I would pass it along, for what it's worth.

Besides, I needed something to post.

3 comments:

Marie Smith said...

I will look for this one! Thanks for the info.

Tabor said...

I did see the first season...wish I had waited beause I forget so much when months pass. I think the Brits do it so well because their actors are extremely talented/well trained and not everyone looks like Ken and Barbie. In American shows they all have to be super fit, attractive and snarky. Brits have REAL people...people that are not so abnormal. They also have people my age being a strong part of a show. Vera is very good and I am watching that now.

Mara said...

Apart from Sherlock, I have never been a big fan of any of the British detective series. Mind you, I am not a big fan of any detective series anyway, so that could be part of the problem!