MILLIONS tuned in to the Happy Valley finale tonight and saw arch-villain Tommy Lee Royce engulfed in a ball of fire.
The climax of the clash saw the murderer douse himself in petrol and set himself on fire at the end of a confrontation with the show’s heroine, Sergeant Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire.
Millions tuned in to the Happy Valley finale starring Sarah Lancashire as Sgt Catherine Cawood[/caption]
The climax of the clash saw arch villain Tommy Lee Royce being engulfed in a ball of fire[/caption]
BBC Today hoped the closing episode had delivered their biggest ratings success since the closing episode of Line Of Duty nearly two years ago.
But unlike that show’s underwhelming disappointment, Happy Valley fans couldn’t have been happier.
A TV insider said: “Beeb bosses knew they had a sensational climax to the show on their hands that would not let anyone down.
“Of course, enthusiasts will always want more, but writer Sally Wainwright wanted the thriller to come out with a bang and she insists she won’t be delivering a fourth series.”
The biting final episode ended with Tommy, played by James Norton, breaking into Catherine’s house where they row and he bursts into flames.
She then frantically jumped on top of him and snuffed out the flames and could be heard moaning in agony beneath her.
Later, she received a text message on her mobile that read: “TLR dead, the hospital just rang.”
But since viewers never saw him die and he was still breathing after the burn, many speculated that this could be a plot twist for a possible fourth series.
The significance of Tommy burning himself will not be lost on die-hard viewers.
One of the first scenes in the series saw Catherine tackle a drug addict if heartbroken after his girlfriend dumped him, he threatened to set himself on fire.
Before the show aired last night, viewers were convinced that Tommy would try to kill Catherine and other members of her family.
A trailer showed him standing over someone with his face spattered with blood after a vicious attack.
Viewers had feared his victim could have been Catherine, but it was a local mobster who met his end after first pretending to rescue Tommy, before showing up to execute him.
The murderer doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire at the end of a confrontation with the heroine of the show Catherine[/caption]
In the episode, a local mobster met his end after first pretending to rescue Tommy, before showing up to execute him.[/caption]
After being double-crossed by the mobsters, he went to Catherine’s home to tackle the kingpin of the murder, Darius Knezevic, who had ordered his assassination.
When she found Tommy in her kitchen, she assumed he had come to kill her, and he confessed to Catherine that he had considered burning down her house with a can of gasoline.
But he stopped after seeing photos of his former girlfriend Becky – Catherine’s late daughter – and childhood photos of his son, Ryan.
He said he had “forgiven” Catherine and apologized for her behavior.
But she didn’t accept his apology, and as she aimed her Taser at him, they argued, before he spilled gasoline on himself and hit a lit match on his chest.
Tommy was furious when she said Ryan, played by Rhys Connah, was “a prince” and nothing like that – and to prove it, the boy had handed his father over to the cops after being asked to flee with him to Spain.
In an earlier scene, Ryan convinced his grandmother not to fall out with his sister Clare, played by Siobhan Finneran, after taking him to visit his father in prison.
In the scene immediately after Tommy’s fire, the two women appeared to be fully reconciled as they kissed outside his house.
Meanwhile, killer chemist Faisal and her abusive husband Rob also seemed destined for prison, along with crime boss Darius.
But some viewers felt there was a lot more to the storylines that still needed to be explored.
One tweeted, “There isn’t enough time in Happy Valley 3! This is why we will need a fourth series.
It’s the perfect climax
Writhing and screaming in agony as the flames consumed him, the death of Happy Valley’s arch villain wasn’t just a sensational end to the series.
As twisted as it sounds, it was also satisfying.
Sure, we were prepared for an epic showdown, but no one expected Catherine and Tommy’s final exchange to be THAT fiery.
When judgment came we all thought he would try to kill her and the only question would be if she would survive.
No one could have guessed that he would be the one to fall in a bloody fire – certainly not a self-inflicted fire.
It wasn’t just setting himself on fire with gasoline and a match that made last night’s show the perfect ending to Happy Valley – it was the fact that writer Sally Wainwright brilliantly reversed the whole story just before getting on like a bridal babydoll.
Over her kitchen table, Catherine finally came face to face with a tearful Tommy in a gripping scene that will deservedly earn Sarah Lancashire and James Norton endless nods.
Forget a violent clash involving knives or guns (that would have been far too awkward and obvious) instead they had a searing 12-minute row that made us doubt everything that had happened over of the previous nine years.
Did we misunderstand the hero and villain from the start?
After all, he was full of regret and compassion – professing his love for Catherine’s daughter and expressing his gratitude for the blessed life of his son, Ryan – while she was cold and ruthless.
With tears streaming down his face (and even a weird moment of levity), you could almost forget he was a torturer, a rapist, a killer.
Luckily, we had already had a reminder of how dangerous Tommy was at the start of this engrossing closing episode.
He first stabbed three gangsters who had been sent to overthrow him.
Then, in the next scene, a bloody fight ensued, which was sure to get James the long-awaited James Bond job.
It ended with the chief henchman ramming his head with a rock.
And if those two flashpoints with Tommy weren’t rewarding enough, Catherine separately helped finger-killing chemist Faisal and mugger Rob while appearing to work things out with her family and, apparently, retreating to the Himalayas.
Then, after her last confrontation with Tommy, she linked three series with three words that all Happy Valley fans dreamed of hearing.
“I won, obviously.”
It doesn’t get more satisfying than that.
In an earlier scene, Ryan convinced his grandmother not to fall out with his sister Clare after taking him to visit his father in prison.[/caption]
The tense finale saw Tommy, played by James Norton, break into Catherine’s house[/caption]
