Happy Valley star Rhys Connah was left making an apology as he made his first appearance since that gripping finale. The hit BBC One drama, starring Sarah Lancashire, James Norton, and Siobhan Finneran, came to an end on Sunday night (February 6) after six weeks of nail-biting drama.
It's taken seven years for the third season to hit screens following the success of series two back in 2016, which came two years after Happy Valley made its debut. And if the reaction is anything to go by, the final-ever series didn't disappoint with more than seven million people watching the final as it unfolded.
The latest, and last, run of the Yorkshire-based drama which started on New Year's Day, saw Tommy Lee Royce still in prison but no one could have predicted what was to come as he found himself in court for a historic murder. But by beating up his custody officers, and a distraction being created outside, Tommy managed to make his freedom dash leaving Sergeant Catherine Cawood fearing for her family after discovering grandson Ryan's contact with his dad.
Warning: Spoilers ahead...
But after gripping scenes in the last month and a half, viewers finally got to see one last stand-off between Catherine and Tommy following his dramatic escape. Viewers tentatively watched Tommy close to being bumped off by mob boss Darius Knezevic as his henchman arrived to silence him for good.
However, that was never going to be the and of Tommy and the villain managed to surivive his latest ordeal in order to head to Catherine's house. After a near meeting, it wasn't until later that the pair entered into an emotional showdown after Catherine was alerted to a smashed window at her home.
Tommy was found by Catherine sitting at her kitchen table having just taken a load of pills. He told his son's grandmother that he could finally see what she had done for his son Ryan, in raising him following the suicide of her daughter Becky, who he still claimed to have loved.
Despite his unsuspecting emotion, his buttons were still pressed by an unforgiving Catherine, leading Tommy to douse himself in petrol, giving Catherine a choice to Taser him and end it all. However, it was Tommy who decided to take his own life when he set himself alight, only for Catherine to rush in to save him.
During his first-ever television interview, Rhys, who has played Ryan in the hit series since he was eight-years-old, joined Ruth Langsford, Linda Robson, Janet Street-Porter and Dame Kelly Holmes on the Loose Women panel and revealed if he knew how the show was going to end.
"When I was first given the script, the very first draft of episode six, I read some of it," he sahred. "I got the car crash and everything but when I get to the end, it’s all redacted, redacted, redacted. All of it. So I spoke to James and Sarah, I had an idea, they sort of told us but I didn’t know how it was going to play out at all.
"I had no clue how it was going to play out on camera, the series of events. I just sort of knew what happened so I was able to watch it borderline for the first time." Asked for his thoughts, Rhys said: "I really liked it!" and agreed with Ruth that it was a "powerful" conclusion.
He continued: "I think they went for a more emotional side, rather than a big fight between them. A lot of people weren’t expecting it but I think it was the best choice for me, myself."
Rhys also joked that his mum thought Happy Valley was going to be a “family friendly kids show” when he got the role just by reading the title. But he also spoke about how writer Sally Wainright waited several years for a third series in order for him to grow-up in real life so he could be the one to play a teenage Ryan.
"It’s not very often that things like this happen and I’m realising how much easier it probably would have been for everyone involved, just to cast someone like me and make the series two years later," the 16-year-old actor told the panel. "I’m incredibly honoured that she waited seven or eight years, all that time, just so I could grow up and play this part more convincingly."
Discussing working with his colleagues on all three series, the teen added: "When I went in first, I didn’t watch that much TV or know that many celebrities. I was eight so I sort of went, these are just people but growing up and realising how big this cast is and then again realising, by being on set, how much I’ve learnt. Just by being around them and acting alongside them, you just learn so much and gain so much experience from it."
But before leaving the studio, Rhys added: "Sadly there are no plans for a series four… Sorry everyone!" It comes as fans demand Ryan be the centre of a Happy Valley spin-off which would follow his own career in the police force after his gran retried after 30 years. There was a moment during the finale in which someone mistook Ryan for a new recruit and when Catherine explained it was her grandson, Ryan gave a wry smile at the thought.
@VictoriaBee tweeted: "Please let there be a #HappyValley spinoff with Ryan becoming a police officer." @howitts72 echoed: "Can we have another series please where Ryan is the new local police officer #HappyValley." @UploadTV_ posted: "The BBC would need to be commissioning a spin off with Ryan becoming a police officer in another 6 years time or else #HappyValleyFinale #HappyValley.."
@MrJackMcLaren shared; "What a great ending for Series 3 of @HappyValleyBBC. Got a feeling this isn’t the end though, and we’ll see a Series 4 in a few years time with Ryan being a Police Officer doing Catherine’s job. #HappyValley." @saw16555184 added: "Was there a little hint of a possible New Series with Ryan as a future Police Officer ?? I can only dream. #HappyValley."
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