BBC's Happy Valley will finally reach its conclusion this weekend. The drama, which has been penned by Sally Wainwright, has been a huge hit with critics and viewers alike.
Having started all the way back in 2014, there was a huge gap between the second and third series of Happy Valley. This was intentional as writer Wainwright wanted there to be a seven-year time difference so that the actor playing Ryan Cawood (Rhys Connah) could grow up and play an equally significant role in series 3.
The final of series 3 has a number of key threads to tie up. Here’s everything that has happened so far in this series.
Read more: Happy Valley megafan claims ending clue hiding in plain sight for weeks
After years away from our screens, viewers were thrust straight back into the action as they caught up with familiar face, Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire). In the first episode of this series, Catherine discovered the remains of a gangland murder victim in a reservoir that had been drained. Investigations led her back to Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), the biological father of her grandson Ryan, who is now 16 years old. Tommy is still in prison for crimes that he committed during the show's first and second series.
In another part of the valley, local pharmacist Faisal Bhatti (Amit Shah) realises that he is in over his head after providing neighbour Joanna (Mollie Winnard) with Diazepam. She is in a violent and turbulent relationship with Rob Hepworth (Mark Stanley), a teacher and football coach at Ryan's school. Joanna is arrested after Rob dobs her into the police after finding her with the tablets.
Faisal is a man who is already on the edge due to his involvement with an organised crime-gang that is threatening to harm his family. He fears that the police will catch him after Joanna’s arrest, prompting her to try and blackmail him into helping her flee Rob and pay for a flat - or kill her husband.
Faisal and Joanna eventually put together a plan in which Joanna would drug her husband's drink before injecting a fatal air bubble into his bloodstream. Scared about the repercussions for her family, Joanna eventually decides against this and admits to Faisal that she lied to him about Rob knowing it was him supplying her with drugs.
This is, ultimately, Joanna’s downfall as Faisal proceeds to kill her by hitting her repeatedly over the head with a rolling pin. Her body would then be found by husband Rob in a suitcase in the garage of her home in episode four, which makes the police suspect that he was responsible for the crime.
Elsewhere in this series, Catherine's boss Mike receives intel that Ryan has been writing to his father, Tommy, in prison and has been secretly visiting him. He has been taken to HMP Sheffield by Neil Ackroyd, the partner of Catherine's recovering drug addict sister Clare, who has been driving the pair to prison. A devastated Catherine confronts Clare in a nail-bitingly tense scene as she waits for grandson Ryan and Neil in a cafe - read more about that here. The siblings’ relationship has yet to heal and viewers desperately want them to reconnect in the final.
In one of the most exciting moments of the series, Tommy escapes prison at the end of episode four. Then, in the penultimate episode, it is revealed that crime boss Darius Knezevic (who has been threatening pharmacist Faisal) has arranged a new life for Tommy in Marbella, complete with an apartment, a car and a job.
As he waits for his flight, Darius has Tommy holed up at an associate’s house. Whilst there, the fugitive has already bullied the owner into providing him with a phone and video game console. It’s through his new gaming hobby that he manages to make contact with son Ryan to share his plan.
The final cliffhanger of the series saw Ryan with an ultimatum of whether to side with his father or grandmother. What will he do? Find out as Happy Valley concludes at 9pm on Sunday, February 5 on BBC One. For more TV and showbiz stories, subscribe to our newsletter here.
READ NEXT:
