BBC Happy Valley's James Norton has shared his "love" for Tommy Lee Royce and revealed some of the secrets behind the explosive scenes in the final ever episode . Writer Sally Wainwright took tension to a whole new level as Sergeant Catherine Cawood confronted the killer in the kitchen of her home.
She finds the bloody and bruised Tommy sitting at the table with photograph albums of her daughter Becky and grandson Ryan sitting in front of him.
He has finally realised that Ryan was brought up in the sort of loving home he had desperately needed himself, and after "forgiving" Catherine, he douses himself in petrol and lights a match.
Read next: What the Happy Valley cast are up to next
Just hours before the last episode aired, actor James Norton was interviewed by GQ and he admitted that he hadn't actually watched the ending and had plans to sit down and watch them with his family on Sunday night.
When asked how he felt about his character's fiery demise, he told the magazine: "There is this constant question ‘is Tommy a psychopath?’ and I have talked about this with people in the production and Sally (Wainwright) and Sarah (Lancashire). The hints were almost laid in the very first series, in episode five, when he’s just been stabbed and he’s facing his own mortality, his own death.
"And he’s sitting in that high rise and he bursts into tears. He thinks, ‘shit, I’ve wasted my life and if I had a different childhood maybe I could have been something in me.’ And if you think back to there, that was where Sally was already planning and carving out this ending I think, because there is humanity there. My final conclusion on Tommy is that I don’t think he is a psychopath, he’s just incredibly damaged."
And he does have lots of empathy for the character, adding: "It was really heartbreaking for me. I recognise that there are absolutely despicable acts which he has committed along the way. But along that journey, I have been with him for ten years, I feel deeply sorry for him. I feel immense pity and empathy and I sort of really love him."
He also revealed that the scenes were filmed in a kitchen that had been recreated in the studio, as they couldn't risk damaging the real house where a lot of the scenes were filmed. The lengths they went to keep the ending secret including only the two actors and a handful of crew seeing the script that was simply named 'Catherine and Tommy chat in kitchen'.
The actor also explained that the ending had to be over a kitchen table because that is where the show "really thrived".
During her final confrontation, Catherine taunted him, saying: “What I’ve seen in these last few days is how much [Ryan] is nothing like you. I’ve worried long enough but now, that boy is a prince. For all his ups and downs, he is about as unlike you as it is possible to be.”
And viewers were quick to take to Twitter in response with many just repeating her line "that boy is a prince" and posting the crying emoji.
One said: “'That boy is a prince' and you Catherine are a queen." Another added: "'That boy is a prince'. I'm in tears thats pretty much the highest praise anyone could get from Catherine Cawood.
A third said: “'That boy is a prince'. I am SOBBING."
James Norton said: "I think Ryan had the life that Tommy could have had, had he been brought up in a world full of love and support. The type of family life Ryan was lucky enough to have after Becky died.
"I think Ryan is a very sorted young man now. And unlike Tommy, he has a far greater hold intellectually and emotionally on the world. He recognises that this man does not deserve to be out in the world. He recognises there is a moral obligation to put Tommy back in prison.
"And that decision, even though it will probably cost him because it is his Dad and I think there is love there, is based on a grounding given to him by Catherine. It’s a very mature decision."
Read more:
- The standout moments from the final ever episode you won't be able to stop thinking about
The simple but brilliant way BBC Happy Valley has united the TV-watching nation
Happy Valley’s Rhys Connah shares moment he was asked to return as Ryan after seven years
Viewers ‘in bits’ as Catherine Cawood has epiphany about grandson Ryan
