The cast of Happy Valley have been doing the rounds on various daytime TV shows following the end of the hit BBC series on Sunday, February 5. One of series 3's standout performances was from Mark Stanley, who played abusive PE teacher Rob Hepworth, and he appeared on ITV's This Morning on Monday, February 6 to discuss the reaction he's had to the Sally Wainwright-penned drama.
Speaking to Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby alongside co-star Derek Riddell (Richard Cawood), Mark said: "I've had a lot of wide berths in the street with this one." He then added that people are "more hesitant" to approach him following his role in the BBC drama.
"Not many people want to compliment you on such horrendous scenes. They keep the distance that they want to keep," he confirmed. Despite this, Mark went on to stress that he was a huge fan of Happy Valley before appearing in the series himself.
Read more: James Norton shares brilliant behind-the-scenes pics of almost 10 years of filming Happy Valley
"I actually came away from a holiday to get back for my audition because I really wanted to prove my worth for it," Mark admitted, "When you look back at the first two series, the kind of calibre of actor that they bring in for it is just extraordinary."
Rob Hepworth was then described by Phillip as a "nasty piece of work". During episode five of Happy Valley's final series, Rob was questioned by police over his wife Joanna's murder. Despite the fact that he'd been presented as an abusive husband, it was actually dodgy pharmacist Faisal Bhatti (Amit Shah) who'd committed the crime.
In a shocking twist in the final, it was revealed that Rob was not just abusive to his wife. At the end of the episode, when Catherine asks DSU Andy whether Rob had been charged, he said that Rob has been - "but not for Joanna, though". He revealed: "We found indecent images on his phone. Turns out he was blackmailing a lad at school to send them to him."
What did you think of the final episode? Let us know in the comments! Happy Valley is available to watch in its entirety on BBC iPlayer. For more TV and showbiz stories, subscribe to our newsletter here.
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