Today marks 10 years since the premiere of Happy Valley, if you can believe it. The series began on BBC One back in 2014, with a second season following in 2016. Though there were a few scattered announcements about a third season back then, most people lost hope after a few years with no further news.
It wasn't until 2023 that we finally got that third and final season to give us closure. Promotional interviews ahead of the premiere revealed that writer Sally Wainwright had always planned to wait until Rhys Connah (the actor who plays Cath's grandson, Ryan Cawood) was more of a teenager than a little boy.
If you haven't seen the final season of Happy Valley yet, you can watch all three seasons on Acorn TV or AMC+. It's also available to purchase on services like Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
Related Reading:
There aren't many shows that intentionally schedule around the life stages of their actors, but Cold Feet is another one that did just that. The early seasons followed the actors in their 30s, then they came back for a few more seasons in their 50s. It's been suggested they might return in a number of years to do some more seasons when they're pensioners. For now, you can watch it on BritBox.
BritBox May 2024 Schedule - Here's everything you can expect on BritBox in May - including a brand new season of McDonald & Dodds.
New & Upcoming
-
On BritBox, the 26th brought season 2 of the prison drama Screw. On May 3rd, they'll be adding Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983 miniseries) and season 1 of the sitcom Stath Lets Flats. On the 6th, they'll add season 3 of Lovejoy.
-
On Acorn TV, new episodes of Murdoch Mysteries continue to premiere each Monday. Brokenwood Mysteries returned for season 10 today, along with the Irish true crime-inspired series The Vanishing Triangle. Next week on the 6th, look for new episodes of Murdoch and Brokenwood, along with the premiere of The Ipcress File and The Night Caller.
- On PBS Masterpiece, season 3 of Guilt premiered on April 28th. The final season sees brothers Max and Jake reunited in Edinburgh, with a variety of enemies forcing them to seek desperate solutions to their problems.
- On Netflix, May 9th will bring the premiere of Bodkin, a new mystery-dramedy set in the fictional town of Bodkin, Ireland. When a group of podcasters investigate a local disappearance, they find something much stranger than they ever could have imagined.
- On Peacock, The Tattooist of Auschwitz will premiere on May 2nd. Based on Heather Morris's novel of the same name, it follows the story of Lale, a Jewish man tasked with inking his fellow prisoners' arms. It's an especially important production in light of the frighteningly anti-Semitic scenes we've seen at many universities and protests recently.
View all the brand new shows coming to US streaming services in April HERE
More to Read...
Acorn TV (US) May Schedule - We can look forward to new Backstrom, Harry Wild, and more in May.
A Closer Look at the 8 Cities of Scotland - In the UK, city status is conferred upon places by letters patent or royal charter - meaning some cities aren't at all like what most people think of as a "city". As of 2022, Scotland has 8 cities, each of which we look at in this post.
The British Mystery That's Also a Puzzle - We talked about this one a couple years ago, but it's still very much available and just as mind boggling to try to solve. Only a handful of people in the entire world have completed it.
24 of the Best Scottish TV Mysteries & Crime Dramas - If you appreciate mysteries that use the beautiful country of Scotland as a backdrop, these are for you.
I take the occasional stroll among the living. Unsettling for all concerned, I can assure you.
Billy Cartwright, Vera
Stream it (US): BritBox
Recent Casting Notices...
As always, there's much to look forward to. Here are a few more projects in the works with various production companies.
- Christmas Karma - Eva Longoria and Hugh Bonneville are among the names involved in this upcoming contemporary Bollywood musical set in London and inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The film will draw parallels between the contemporary cost-of-living crisis and the poverty in Victorian London.
- Madfabulous - This Welsh feature film is based on the true story of Henry Cyril Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey: one of the richest men in Britain; a dandy; a dreamer who inherited the modern equivalent of £11m a year and died broke; lost, ill and forgotten at the age of twenty-nine in France.
- The Magic Faraway Tree - This feature film follows Polly and Tim and their children Beth, Joe and Fran – a modern family who find themselves forced to relocate to a remote village in the English countryside. Soon after, the kids discover a magical tree with the potential to take the family on unbelievable adventures.
- Moss & Freud - This period drama film is set in 2002 when a pregnant Kate Moss chose to sit nude for British artist Lucian Freud. Set around Freud’s Holland Park studio and London in the wild times of early 2000s Britain, the film explores Freud’s mysterious past and Moss’ life as a famous supermodel.
