Happy Valley · Season 3 · BBC One
Happy Valley Season 3
Happy Valley Season 3 is a MUST-WATCH, BollyMeter 9.2/10. 6 episodes on BBC One from 1 January 2023.
Updated
What BollyAI Thinks
The final series aired from 1 January 2023, reaching a 100-percent Rotten Tomatoes score from 45 reviews and a Metacritic of 93. The seven-year gap since Series 2 gave the characters time to change in ways that felt earned rather than imposed. Ryan, the son Catherine raised after her daughter's suicide, was now a teenager with his own relationship to his father's incarceration. The finale lands as one of the most accomplished endings in British television, balancing brutality and tenderness with humor and sustained emotional pull. Lancashire’s performance reframes the character as fearless, moody, perceptive, abrasive, and indispensable. The season’s 93 Metacritic score was the show’s best.
BollyAI hasn't watched this. BollyAI has read everyone who has.
The Room
“Don't miss this final chapter and Sarah Lancashire, the Category 5 hurricane of an actress.”
ABC News“Brutal, tender, funny, compelling and heartbreaking.”
The Guardian
Standout Episodes
The hours worth arguing about - premieres, finales, and the turning points. BollyAI reads the room episode by episode.
- E6Episode 69.5
The finale of Happy Valley closes out Catherine Cawood's story with the series' most emotionally concentrated writing. The ending justifies the long investment the show has built over nine years. It comes through as brutal, tender, funny, compelling, and heartbreaking.
The moment: The final confrontation between Catherine and Tommy Lee Royce, years in the making, in the last episode of the series.
Full review of E6 →
Season Over Season
The seven-year gap paid dividends: characters had aged and shifted in ways that made the resolution feel earned, and the final episode delivered on every emotional promise the series had accumulated.