We're more than halfway through Happy Valley series two now, with just two episodes to go - and things are accelerating at an alarming pace.

This week's instalment had more than one 'oh-my-god' moment - from victims fighting back, to sinister plotting.

The search for the prostitute killer is apparently over - but have CID nailed the right man - and will Vicky's murder be so easily pinned on him?

Here's what we learned this week:

Leonie had a lucky escape

A traumatised Leonie had a lucky escape tonight after a client raped her, and threatened much worse - though she thankfully avoided being added to the list of dead street workers. I have to say, hats off to Happy Valley on how they tackled this one - I think we all felt a bit of Sgt Cawood's fury when it became clear the PCSOs had done nothing to protect a vulnerable teen. The idea that Leonie deserved any less help because of her profession, appearance or short-sighted judgements is abhorrent — and that's before you even consider that there's a prostitute-killer on the loose. End of rant.

Matthew Lewis plays Sean Balmforth
Matthew Lewis plays Sean Balmforth

CID think they've got him

After Sgt Cawood realised the reg plate of the van Leonie's attacker drove matched the one that drove past them before, it didn't take long for CID to pounce on Sean Balmforth. The van was seized, his phone taken, and he was brought in to be charged with rape and ABH for the Leonie attack — then arrested for the other murders.

While seemed unphased by the rape and ABH charges — his line "I paid her! She's a prostitute!" was particularly pleasant — it soon changed to shock as CID officer Jodie Shackleton began reeling off the names of the women they believed he had killed. It honestly looked like he had no clue what they were on about. Have they jumped the gun here?

Mike Taylor (RICK WARDEN), Catherine (SARAH LANCASHIRE)
Mike Taylor (RICK WARDEN), Catherine (SARAH LANCASHIRE)

Ryan turned 10

Happy birthday Ryan! Or at least it was, until Catherine saw who the expensive Scalextric set came from. The pressure's been building on Catherine from the off, and the card from Tommy Lee Royce (written by creepy Frances) seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back. Of course Catherine was totally justified in tearing apart the set and hauling it down to the police station, and it was a sick move on Frances' part. But how do you explain that to a 10-year-old on his birthday? As Catherine said, the gift was an attempt to make Ryan hate her — and it almost worked.

Clare (SIOBHAN FINNERAN), Catherine (SARAH LANCASHIRE)
Clare (SIOBHAN FINNERAN), Catherine (SARAH LANCASHIRE)

Cat, of course, sent her self into a frenzy wondering who was working with Tommy to deliver the gift, and how it would affect Ryan — but what can she do? As Clare pointed out — "We're going round in circles."

Darryl snapped

Poor Darryl. Catherine's promise to 'nip it in the bud' hadn't quite worked out, with the bullies released on bail, able to torment him about grassing them up. His character is almost childlike — which made it all the more shocking when he grabbed that lump hammer and started frantically swinging it at them. The shopkeeper called 999, Darryl was arrested — and seemed to have realised what he had done. He didn't want to cooperate with the DNA swabs, the whole thing was totally unfair in his mind — and I'm sure one or two people agreed with him. But sadly, no matter how cretinous your enemies, whacking them with a hammer isn't the way to go.

Neil Ackroyd (CON O'NEILL), Clare (SIOBHAN FINNERAN)
Neil Ackroyd (CON O'NEILL), Clare (SIOBHAN FINNERAN)

Neil knew Vicky

Neil, who seems to hide in the living room away from Catherine whenever he visits, had an alarming bit of pillow talk this week — he knew Vicky Fleming. Turns out she blackmailed him the same way she blackmailed John — though he didn't say exactly how she 'humiliated' him at the building society. Did she have incriminating photographs like she had one John? Seemed she had a cheaper blackmail rate with Neil, too.

Living with Catherine has apparently given Clare some detective skills, as she twigged that whoever murdered her might have been blackmailed too, and probably wasn't the frenzied killer attacking prostitutes. Neil refused to tell police, however — was his distress genuine, or was he hiding something? Still seems iffy to me.

Frances Drummond (SHIRLEY HENDERSON)
Frances Drummond (SHIRLEY HENDERSON)

Frances planted ideas

Creepy Frances ramped up the creepy this week, digging further about Ryan's view of his daddy dearest. How is she spending so much time alone with him?! Where are the other children when they have their little chats? She asked about his birthday, and his presents, and then started hypnotising Ryan like Kaa the snake from the Jungle Book. 'Your dad's sorry, he didn't do what he's in prison for, he needs forgiveness'. I'm not sure what she gets out of her relationship with Tommy Lee Royce that makes her willing to do all this nonsense for, at best, hand-holding across a table in a prison visiting room, but she's scarily good at it.

John's on edge

In contrast, John is getting worse and worse at playing the cool detective and seems to lurch between quiet confidence that he's got away with pinning Vicky's murder on Sean Balmforth and sheer panic that the walls are closing in. Deep breaths, John.

Andy Shepherd (VINCENT FRANKLIN), John Wadsworth (KEVIN DOYLE), Jodie Shackleton (KATHERINE KELLY)
Andy Shepherd (VINCENT FRANKLIN), John Wadsworth (KEVIN DOYLE), Jodie Shackleton (KATHERINE KELLY)

Shackleton's having similar thoughts to Clare too, and believes Vicky's murder was 'personal' and might not have been the van driver after all. Surely the phone examination brought up Vicky and John's texts and phone calls? These days John looks simultaneously white as a sheet and totally zoned out, as if he might accidentally drive the car into the canal with CID's finest in it. Oh, and Amanda, completely ignoring her own infidelity so she can stay mad at John, has evicted him and changed the locks. His daughter made me laugh: "We don't want him not to be here, even if he is a pig."

Ann's been drinking

Despite Ann's enthusiasm about her new job, we found out this week that she's back on the bottle, after a few years of being teetotal.

Ann Gallagher (CHARLIE MURPHY)
Ann Gallagher (CHARLIE MURPHY)

Catherine, who had noticed she looked unwell, seemed to know immediately (years of living with Clare and her alcoholism perhaps?) and asked Nevison about it during a brief lunch at the Old Fire Station Cafe (which I believe is in Elland, but I'm struggling to find it in Google Maps). The question is, why is Ann drinking? Is is a coping mechanism after her ordeal last year, her mother's death, her new job — or all three?

Ryan reached out

Poor Ryan, he's had a rubbish birthday, followed by some lunatic filling his head with rubbish about forgiveness and now he's no idea what to think. It's natural for a child to be curious about his parents, if they're no longer in his life. Even if his only living parent is a psychopath.

Ryan (RHYS CONNAH)
Ryan (RHYS CONNAH)

Which is why Catherine telling him not to refer to Tommy Lee Royce as his dad is only likely to make him more curious about why he can't see him — and what he's missing out on. He does seem to have gotten over the petrol incident quite quickly — and Miss Wheland's ideas about 'forgiveness' have stuck. Please don't let him give that letter to Miss Wheland, good grief.

Frances got an order

Apparently Frances' not-so-subtle manipulation of Ryan isn't enough for Tommy Lee Royce (because of course, his desire for Ryan has nothing to do with the kid and everything to do with spitting on Catherine). Tommy also spouted enough paranoid idiocy about the 'crafty' police covering up Catherine's sideline as a serial killer to make any tin-foil-hat wearer proud.

Frances Drummond (SHIRLEY HENDERSON), Tommy Lee Royce (JAMES NORTON)
Frances Drummond (SHIRLEY HENDERSON), Tommy Lee Royce (JAMES NORTON)

Frances did look perturbed by how aggresive (and clearly bloodthirsty) he was — but it didn't stop her from desperately telling him she'd do whatever he wanted, accepting his belief that "nothing is illegal, it's just a word people use to control other people with". Cripes. That 'two hearts that beat as one' nonsense made me retch a bit too. But does Frances really have it in her to go beyond grooming Ryan to take revenge on Catherine for Tommy? I think she's out of her depth.

Sassy Catherine one-liner of the week

"It's not someone who lies about living on a narrowboat and pours petrol over you and kicks the living say lights out your grandmother."

Questions for next week

Well, first of all — what will Frances do now? I feel like she's more capable of spiriting Ryan away than actually harming Catherine, who would snap her like a twig.

John is a horrible liar, his phone ties him to Vicky (despite his rubbish building society fraud case excuse) and even Clare has twigged that she doesn't fit in with the other victims. How long has he got left before it all blows up in his face?

And did Bamforth really kill the other women? I know, they found hair, and he had Tommy Lee Royce's mums number — but a) we know he used prostitutes, he could have simply been with her one night, and b) he's a bit of a wrong-un, maybe he knew both Tommy Lee Royce and his mum. Maybe he was a customer of hers.

Two episodes to go and the drama is coming thick and fast — roll on next Tuesday.

Happy Valley locations
Catherine (SARAH LANCASHIRE)
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