The one hundred and sixtieth TV show: #971 Happy Valley
When it comes to crime shows, there's a specific dichotomy that tends to apply. There are the procedural, case-of-the-week shows that focus on a case a week, such as Midsomer Murders, sometimes with a character arc in there, but while the cases can inform the story, they rarely matter beyond an episode. On the other side, there are shows like Broadchurch where the case runs through a full system, informs the characters more closely and where we often get a more personal link. It's a more modern way to tell these stories and often the more engaging if you can get into what's going on.
Happy Valley falls into the latter. Set in a grim Yorkshire town, it starts off with a kidnapping case that turns into murder. Catherine is a police sergeant who gets caught up in it, as there is a personal connection to the people around it. For both seasons, it's safe to say that they start slowly, but pay off immensely once you get deeper into it. Sarah Lancashire's performance is the most outstanding in all of this, playing the line between making you care about her and getting annoyed when she's too stubborn for her own good. That's not to say there aren't more good performances, but it all relies on her while not feeling like she's a person handling everything, but is realistically limited by her police powers.
Be ready for a slow burn, but it works out so well at the end that you want to keep going at the end of every few episodes.