But the relationship gets tested beyond all imagining. ‘It begins in a warm, supportive place he wants to open his life up to her. ‘This case awakens part of him she didn’t know existed,’ says Angela. But she begins to realise how troubled he is. Trudi’s relationship with Ray is just a few months old, and she thinks her boyfriend is gentle and calm. It was incredible to see him physically change in front of me.’

‘It was so brilliant I got this feeling in my tummy – it made me sit up and think. ‘There’s one scene where Dougray just changed before my eyes,’ says Angela. We get glimpses of Lennox’s interior world through innovative direction, which at times shows him screaming in mental pain when he seems outwardly calm. It’s one of those shows I’d normally look at and think, “I wish I was in that.” Now I am!’ ‘It’s a dark thriller which is as sexy as hell. It’s certainly the grittiest crime drama we’ve seen since Luther, and it’s just as compelling, says one of its stars, Angela Griffin, who found fame in Coronation Street and Holby City. But I can’t think of anything like it on British TV.’ ‘Whether it’s going to be a bit much for some, or not what people expect from a British show, I don’t know.

‘I’ve never seen anything that looks like this show,’ says Irvine of the six-part drama, which incorporates abuse, drugs and murder. Perhaps that’s unsurprising as it’s based on a novel by Irvine Welsh, the man behind seminal druggie movie Trainspotting, and he’s adapted the book for the BritBox series. That is turned on its head with new thriller Crime, a drama that draws you down into an underbelly of vice and trauma that can be as seductive as it is shocking. The focus is more on the whodunnit rather than what they actually did. “Happy Valley” is mostly about this community, where beautiful landscapes are marred by pockets of extreme poverty, and where everybody seems to know everybody else’s business.As a nation we love our police dramas, but murderous television can sometimes be a little sterile. But the show’s creator Sally Wainwright is just as interested in her heroine’s complicated home-life (where she lives with her emotionally unstable grandson and her ex-junkie sister), as well as the social conditions that fostered this series’ cast of drug-dealers, kidnappers, rapists and serial killers.

There’s a strong procedural element to “Happy Valley,” as Catherine finds clues, asks questions and tracks her prey.

Watch… if you like character-driven crime stories. What is it about? In the modest northern metropolis of West Yorkshire, the police sergeant Catherine Cawood finds herself pursuing cases that have ties to her own troubled past. Through its Watching newsletter, What to Watch page and many curated lists, The New York Times looks to guide readers through the chaotic world of streaming services and offer recommendations of the best films and TV shows to watch.

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