BOUND BY HATE
Happy Valley’s James Norton says killer character & cop nemesis have deadly obsession.. which fans reckon will only end when one of them dies
JAMES Norton has described his Happy Valley alter ego Tommy Lee Royce as a “terrifying mess”. And social media seems to agree as fans were in meltdown after Royce escaped from court on a bike, setting up a brutal showdown with his nemesis – Sergeant Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire.
In jail for three murders and rape, Royce had looked strangely contented and calm in the first three episodes. But in last Sunday’s fourth, newly shaved and hair snipped, the old smirking character exploded into action leaving those already traumatised from what he’d done to them fearing for their lives.
While loving playing the most evil man on television, James has found it a challenge to portray him.
He said: “Tommy Lee Royce is an enigma and a puzzle and a kind of terrifying mess.
“Genuinely, I am still kind of working him out.
“I think I had certain preconceptions about him in the first series. We would talk about him quite flippantly as if he is a psychopath.
“And I did a lot of work into psychopathy and was introduced to some behavioural psychologists and criminal psychologists who were wonderfully helpful in excavating Tommy and the mindset he has.
“The way into Tommy’s headspace has been challenging because, by nature, he lives in a very different space to me and most people I know – on that kind of fringe of humanity.
“As a result, it is one of the more challenging roles to find the shared experience with him.
“But that is kind of the joy when you are asked to empathise with someone who feels very distant from yourself. That’s kind of where you learn the most, if you go on that journey with empathy and understanding, you get to see the world in an entirely different way.
“Tommy’s version is very different from mine, thank goodness.”
Ever since the first series in 2014, Happy Valley has been lauded as one of the best shows on television.
It began with Catherine discovering Royce, the man who had raped and impregnated her daughter and driven her to suicide, was being released from prison.
Royce then went on to kidnap and rape businessman’s daughter Ann Gallagher.
Catherine saved her but was beaten so badly by Royce she had to have her spleen removed.
No wonder then Catherine is like a dog with a bone. She was the first to realise that Royce might be up to something when he wanted son Ryan (Rhys Connah) to see him being sentenced in court.
He also talked about going bungee jumping with him in a previous episode during a prison visit she didn’t know about.
Before Royce’s daring escape, Catherine warned her police boss Inspector Mike Taylor (Rick Warden) “If he gets out, he’s
coming for me”, setting up an explosive final two episodes in the third and final series. James said: “They are in the best way epic adversaries pitched against each other. “They are obsessed with each other, there’s a kind of deep, deep hatred in the way that when you think about someone that you hate, they inhabit part of your consciousness. “There’s a sort of, not love, but there is a kind of connection and affinity. “There’s a certain kind of shared experience they have in that they both obsess about each other. “They are inextricably linked and will always be in some way married together.” Fans have been quick to decide – one of them will have to die.
James may have hinted that it could be Royce – but even he might not know because Amit Shah – drug-dealing pharmacist Faisal – who is at the centre of the second series three plot, the murder of Joanna Hepworth, has revealed multiple endings have been filmed, so the cast don’t even know how it ends. James said: “I think the reason this series is particularly exciting is because everyone knows it’s the last and so everyone is going to be waiting for something to happen and everyone is sort of predicting and guessing how Sally (Wainwright, the show’s creator) wants to end it.
“I have been predicting for the last seven years how she is going to end it, so it was really wonderful to read the script and hear her ideas – and they don’t disappoint.”
Well, for fans, if Catherine dies and Tommy doesn’t, that would be disappointing. But only Sally knows.
It’s made the show a must-see and James knows why – from the writing to the cast, everything has come together.
He added: “There is always an absolute rollercoaster of a plot and many people said in the first series they would end up behind their sofa with their hands over their mouth.
“I think both the second and hopefully the third deliver on that.”
We know Royce will do anything to anyone – remember how he ran over cop Kirstin McAskill three times just to make sure she was dead?
But Catherine will as well – and despite being close to retirement, has taken her fair share of beatings.
James describes them as “two fearsome adversaries”.
While the London-born actor has also starred in Grantchester, War & Peace and McMafia, Happy Valley has given him global success and he’s once again a favourite to take over the mantle of Bond.
He added: “I was really proud when I went to America and realised how far reaching the show is.
“I think it’s such a specific show about the very specific part of England and yet when I go to America, I am amazed at how many people have watched it.
“And that was a really proud moment, when I realised how it wasn’t only a show loved in the UK but internationally.” ●Happy Valley continues on Sunday, BBC1 at 9pm.
it’s challenging to find the shared experience with him JAMES NORTON ON HAPPY VALLEY CHARACTER