‘Can’t stop thinking about it’: Happy Valley fans are obsessing over one line from the latest episode
Happy Valley fans have hailed one line from the latest episode of the BBC drama as “perfection”.
The adored series returned after a seven-year break on New Year’s Day, with writer Sally Wainwright reuniting viewers with Sarah Lancashire’s irreverent police sergeant Catherine Cawood, and James Norton’s malicious Tommy Lee Royce.
Every episode of the new season to date has gone down extremely well with fans, but it’s one line of dialogue in the third instalment, which aired on Sunday (15 January), that has them calling for the show to win all the Baftas.
The line in question comes as Catherine is explaining to her grandson Ryan (Rhys Connah) why he shouldn’t be having secret meetings with his father Tommy in prison.
“He has a kink in his brain – a twist, a psychological deformity,” she tells him. “It’s an absence of something that allows him to possibly seem quite normal to you, but it allows him to do things – evil things, nasty things, things that normal people just wouldn’t do, things that he’s ended up in prison for.
“Now you don’t have that kink, that absence. You have a normal brain. You are not evil. So what you have to understand is…”
Ryan interrupts, saying: “You know my tea’s going cold?”
Catherine then replies with the question: “What you having?”
“Stew,” he says.
“That’ll be alright,” his grandmother assures him.
Many have complimented the line for its relatability and authenticity, and for injecting a moment of humour into such an emotional exchange.
A drama about drug dealers, serial killers and money laundering but somehow this ends up being the absolute highlight of the episode #HappyValley pic.twitter.com/8qeUv7DnTt
— Sid 🏳️🌈 (@HertsSid) January 15, 2023
“Still can’t stop thinking about the stew line in Happy Valley, I almost wrote down notes of the whole scene, for what I don’t know, just because it’s so incredibly good,” wrote one viewer.
“The stew line,” added another. “The stew line should be taught in schools. It should have a blue plaque. It should be placed in a museum, no, a travelling museum exhibit so the whole world can see the glory of the stew line.”
A third added: “That quick exchange about stew mid-life-changing revelation was perfection.”
A fourth said that the “interjection alone deserves Baftas for writing and performance”.
“What you ‘avin”
“Stew”
“Be alright”
Interjected into the most heart wrenching tense conversation ever is why Sally Wainwright is top of her game and why Sarah Lancashire’s way of delivering her lines needs allllll the awards #HappyValley— Ruth Drake (@Lemonade_maker_) January 15, 2023
“What you having?” “Stew”
“That’ll be alright”
Anyone who wasn’t watching just won’t get it, but that simple exchange will be one of the tv moments of the year. Has there ever been a more natural actor than Sarah Lancashire? #HappyValley— Ian Rumsey (@IJRumsey) January 16, 2023
It’s been over 24 hours and I’ve still not come to terms with The Stew Line from last night’s #HappyValley
How the littlest, most innocuous line had such monumental impact is true testament to @spiceyw and #SarahLancashire— Gage Oxley 💐✨ (@GageOxley) January 17, 2023
Happy Valley continues on Sunday at 9pm on BBC One. Read The Independent’s recap of episode three here.