Happy Valley stars Mark Stanley and Derek Riddell met for the first time on Monday morning’s This Morning after the BBC show aired its fiery finale over the weekend.
The closing scenes of Sally Wainwright’s epic West Yorkshire trilogy series aired to instant acclaim on Sunday night after viewers had been gripped for weeks.
Sergeant Catherine’s story came to an end in a nerve-jangling extended finale, which offered a satisfying ending for many longtime fans of the show after dramatic scenes.
Actors Mark, who played controlling PE teacher Rob Hepworth, and David, who played Catherine’s ex-husband Richard, sat down with This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield to discuss the show’s finale.
The pair admitted their stint in the ITV studio was the first time they had met as their storylines never crossed on the show.
David then joked: “I don’t know if I would have wanted to meet him because of his character.”
Phillip reeled off a number of glowing reviews from the newspapers, adding: “It must be a great source of satisfaction that it has gone down so well with those that have watched it.
“That must feel great. You get to the end of something like this and it’s satisfying.”
David described it as a ‘huge relief’, adding: “The country was so invested in it, which is really lovely to be involved in something like that. You can’t please all people all the time, but it seems like most people are satisfied.”
Holly asked the actors about their awareness of the dramatic ending, which saw Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) finally face off with Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) in a gripping 15 minute scene, and whether the BBC One show filmed multiple endings.
While they said the ending had been set in stone, they did note that their scripts were redacted, so they were not aware of the ending.
Mark explained: “They didn’t want things leaking. Things are sent through email these days and if it accidentally goes the wrong way then all of a sudden this seven year anticipation goes out the window.”
David added: “I didn’t know. I could have found out from sources, but I decided I would just save it and be like everybody else.”
The three seasons of Happy Valley are now available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
