Happy Valley comes to a ambiguous close with biggest audience yet
The second series of BBC One’s ultra-grim northern drama, Happy Valley (9pm), came to an end last night in an expectedly bloody, traumatising and bleakly funny fashion.
Differing from the first series that focused on one overarching narrative, the second series featured several strands that were all tied together neatly in yesterday’s thrilling – but typically glum – finale.
The sixth and final outing for the troubled Sargent Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) managed to avoid the clichés of very similar shows – instead of the expected bloody and vengeance showdown there was a sensitive and compassionate monologue about mental health followed by a climactic car chase that lasted all of two seconds.
Series one opened with 6.3 million viewers in April 2014, with the next four gripping instalments averaging at 5.6 million before wrapping up with a tense head-to-head on a petrol-soaked canal boat that secured 6.2 million viewers.
In mid-February, the return to Cawood’s tumultuous Happy Valley brought in the show’s biggest audience to date, with 6.5 million viewers tuning in to see how the policing force of nature and her family were surviving 18 months later.
As this series unfolded, the next four episodes brought in an overnight average of 6.3 million, which improved on the previous run.
Last night’s finale bettered that and secured the show’s biggest audience yet, as a tragic and violent event forced the Calder Valley police to realise one of their own was a very bad’un.
Viewers were treated to an intense but darkly comic final confrontation bringing in an impressive 7.4 million viewers, before leading to a troublingly vague open-ended scene, resulting in a 34% share.
Despite enticing plenty of shocked/praising/angry tweets, the buzz-worthy but unorthodox police drama was actually beaten in the TV Twitter Chart by a new episode of Geordie Shore (MTV, 10pm) which was watched by just 324,000 viewers but generated 21,249 tweets.
[advert position=”left”]BBC Two had the second biggest show in the 9pm slot, with high-powered documentary Inside Obama’s Whitehouse, an account of the US President’s highs and lows. The first of four episodes looked at the first 100 days as told by his chief advisories, resulting in 1.6 million viewers and a 7% share.
Over on ITV, it was time for another generic filler show about traffic, roads and accidents in Speeding Wars (9pm), which brought in 1.4 million viewers and a 6% share.
On Channel 4, there was another batch of TV-ready affected personalities all ready for their 15 minutes of fame on a new series of First Dates at 9pm. 1.3 million viewers and a 6% share tuned in for the weekly dollop of contrived real-life characters.
There were reality TV characters of completely different aspirations over on Channel 5 as the second series of Benefits by the Sea: Jaywick (9pm) continued, with 938,000 viewers and a 4% share tuning in for welfare-gawping action.
At 8pm, Holby City bagged BBC One 4.7 million viewers while Mary Berry’s Easter Feast brought in 2.8 million viewers to BBC Two.
ITV’s disastrous It’s Not Rocket Science (8pm) secured 1.7 million viewers and an 8% share, while Channel 4’s Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners and Channel 5’s Britain’s Horror Homes brought in 1.5 million and 792,000 viewers respectively.
Earlier in the day Emmerdale (7pm) bagged 5.8 million viewers (a 30% share) for ITV, while EastEnders (BBC One) secured 6.8 million viewers and a 33% share at 7:30pm.
Overnight data is available each morning in mediatel.co.uk’s TV Database, with all BARB registered subscribers able to view reports for terrestrial networks and key multi-channel stations. Overnight data supplied by TRP are based on 15 minute slot averages. This may differ from tape checked figures, which are based on a programme’s actual start and end time.
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