RIP Delilah
Happy Valley Edition
I can’t believe it has taken me nine years to watch Happy Valley on BBC. The show came into my life three weeks ago and in the blink of an eye, it is already ending with the third and final season finale on Sunday. I can barely contain my excitement and yes, I am wishing away my weekend until I can view those 70 minutes of anticipated drama and inevitable heartbreak.
The BBC show has taken the UK by storm and people are completely obsessed with the characters, actors, and writing of the genius Sally Wainwright. The crime drama stars Sarah Lancashire as Catherine Cawood, Siobhan Finneran as Clare Cartwright, and James Norton as Tommy Lee Royce. I came across James Norton in Grantchester where he played a sleuthing vicar in small-town England - that is a far cry from the nefarious Royce who actually makes your skin crawl when he enters the frame.
The Premise
In a nutshell, and without giving away any spoilers for those of you lucky enough to get to watch Happy Valley from the beginning, the show follows Sergeant Catherine Cawood as the hard-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside saviour of the North. She’s a hard-hitting detective turned police officer who is dealing with the past trauma of losing her young daughter to suicide due to being raped by Tommy Lee Royce.
Catherine cares for Ryan Cawood, her grandson that was only a few weeks old when her daughter died. Tommy Lee Royce has been released from prison in season one and is immediately involved in criminal activity again in a storyline that will weave throughout the entire series. It is storytelling at its finest as many sub-plots link together in the most subtle of ways.
TV’s Sexiest Psychopath
So, that’s the plot. It’s an extremely dark and twisted tale that centers around trauma, violence against men and women, and sexual abuse. All of the above are typically spurred on by Tommy Lee Royce who kidnaps, rapes, and murders women. Yet the strangest thing has happened. This week, in the lead-up to the series finale, Tommy Lee Royce was voted TV’s “Sexiest Psychopath”. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking, “tOmmY LeE RoyCE is fictional, viewers fancy James Norton”, which of course how could you not? James Norton is beautiful.
But this fascination leads to a bigger question, why are women so attracted and infatuated with criminals? The psychological term is “hybristophilia”, which is defined as a “sexual interest in and attraction to those who commit crimes. In some cases, this may be directed toward people in prison for various types of criminal activities.” In Happy Valley terms, this behaviour was exemplified by Frances Drummond’s storyline played by Shirley Henderson where she, and multiple other women, become engaged to Royce whilst in prison.
Harpy, don’t speak for me, or the entire female population
When doing some research on this phenomenon, I came across this article from “Harpy” magazine and I wanted to toss my laptop out the window. I read the below paragraph and near convulsed in my seat:
Who among us can’t truthfully raise her hand and say she didn’t sit down to salivate over Ross Lynch in My Friend Dahmer, Evan Peters in American Horror Story or Penn Badgley in You? The more attractive and depraved, the better.
No, not “the more attractive and depraved, the better”. I’m finding it really difficult to get my head around this concept. In real crime series and the news, we see acts of violence against women every day. We only have to look back on this past year of all the women murdered by partners, police officers, and random strangers. So, how can watching these documentaries and fictional shows make you feel attracted to these monsters?
For me, Happy Valley is so gripping and traumatic because it’s a story that could translate to reality so easily. For Ann, she was targeted and kidnapped driving down the road. Real women are attacked during the day, at night, and even in their own homes. These news stories have affected me. I don’t walk alone in the dark, even in the early evening, I am too scared. I walked home alone from the gym one evening in November and probably scared the man in front of me more due to my fast feet and shallow breath. I couldn’t wait to get home, I was so uneasy. That’s not how it should be, is it?
RIP Delilah
In the same week as this craziness, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) removed Tom Jones’ “iconic” song Delilah from its choir playlist at the Principality Stadium. I didn’t understand the significance of this until I Googled the lyrics - always a dangerous thing to do.
What do the lyrics say?
At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting
I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more
Like, what is going on? This song was released in 1968, and everyone argues that “back in the day” this is how things were. Tom Jones is an icon, but could you imagine Ed Sheeran or Lewis Capaldi writing a song like this today? Back then, women must have been such a low priority on the scale of basic human decency that they wrote songs about killing us. People will probably argue that this is the “woke brigade” out in full force. Well, how about we all fucking wake up and realise that enough is enough? Violence, on-screen, in lyrics, and most importantly, in real life, should not be idolised or admired. It should be eradicated.