Valley of tears

Sarah Lancashire and James Norton are back for a shocking showdown as crime drama Happy Valley returns for a final outing...

- HANNAH DAVIES, STEVEN PERKINS

NEW CRIME DRAMA

Happy Valley

New Year's Day, 9pm, BBC1

The long wait is over… Hit crime thriller Happy Valley, starring Sarah Lancashire and James Norton, returns to our screens after more than six years away – and the stage is set for a gripping last-ever season.

This time, the BAFTA-winning drama begins with Yorkshire copper Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Lancashire) in a good place for once, with her long-awaited retirement on the horizon and her grandson, Ryan, now a seemingly happy 16-year-old.

However, that all changes when Catherine makes the gruesome discovery of a gangland murder victim’s remains in a drained reservoir, and the subsequent police investigation turns its focus on her long-time nemesis, serial murderer and sex offender Tommy Lee Royce, setting their lives on another collision course.

‘We pick up six years later and we find Tommy still in prison serving multiple life sentences,’ reveals Norton, who plays a now longhaired and bearded Tommy. ‘But