[Cal.]

Series 1

Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is a strong-willed police sergeant in West Yorkshire, still coming to terms with the suicide of her teenage daughter, Becky, eight years earlier. Cawood is now divorced from her husband and living with her sister, Clare (Siobhan Finneran), a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict, who is helping her bring up Becky's young son, Ryan (Rhys Connah), the product of rape. Neither Catherine's ex-husband nor their adult son, Daniel, wants anything to do with Ryan. Catherine hears that Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), the man responsible for the brutal rape that impregnated Becky and drove her to suicide shortly after Ryan was born, is out of prison after serving eight years for drug charges. Catherine soon becomes obsessed with finding Royce, unaware that he is involved in the kidnapping of Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy), a plot instigated by Kevin Weatherill (Steve Pemberton) and orchestrated by Ashley Cowgill (Joe Armstrong). Things quickly take a dark turn as the abductors scramble to keep the kidnapping secret, although Catherine is onto them.

Series 2

Eighteen months after the events of the first series, Catherine is back at work and has won the Queen's Police Medal (QPM) for gallantry, for rescuing Ann Gallagher (Charlie Murphy) from Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), who is serving a life sentence in prison. But when Royce's mother is killed, Catherine finds herself implicated in a string of murders. While trying to prove her innocence, Catherine is tasked with investigating a human trafficking operation linked to the serial killings. Meanwhile, senior HMIT officers Detective Superintendent Andy Shepard (Vincent Franklin) and Detective Inspector Jodie Shackleton (Katherine Kelly) begin to suspect that the supposed fourth victim of the serial killer, Victoria Fleming (Amelia Bullmore), was in fact murdered by someone else. Gradually their investigation starts to lead them towards Victoria's actual killer – a police detective, John Wadsworth (Kevin Doyle), whom Fleming had been blackmailing. Catherine's grandson, Ryan, develops a friendship with a new teaching assistant, Miss Wealand (Shirley Henderson), who is in reality a prison groupie obsessed with Royce. Royce, whom the court has forbidden from having any contact with Ryan, is using Wealand to try to build a relationship with his son and to get revenge on Catherine. Ryan increasingly alarms his family by asking questions about his father and even suggests his father should be forgiven.

Series 3

SARAH LANCASHIRE has confirmed she will be retuning for a third series of Happy Valley, but her good news came with a sting.

The 51-year-old, who stars as the heroic Sergeant Catherine Cawood, also confirmed that the forthcoming cycle of the Sally Wainwright's police drama would almost certainly be the last.

"I thought we'd already had the end but Sally feels there is a very final ending needed for the show and for Catherine," she told The Sun. "There's going to be a very big full-stop to the piece."

However, a third cycle is likely to be a long way off, as she added: "It's just an idea at the moment. Sally has told us she wants to write another series, which will be the final one. We don't know when it will happen."

http://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-...n-final-series