Was Mare of Easttown inspired by crime drama Happy Valley?
The recent hit crime drama Mare Of Easttown has drawn comparison from one of Britains biggest crime drama hits of recent years  Happy Valley. Both Mare Of Easttown and Happy Valley are exceptional series with fantastically complex female leads at the forefront. And both women  played respectively by Kate Winslet and Sarah Lancashire  have walked a similarly difficult path in life. Mare Of Easttown wowed viewers when it began broadcasting on Sky Atlantic earlier this spring. The seven-part series stars Kate Winslet as Mare Sheehan, a police officer in the small Pennsylvania town of Easttown. With the murder of a teenage girl  and the disappearance of another  to contend with, she also had a lot going on in her private life. Read more: The Mare Of Easttown episode 5 review: 5 reasons why this is the best crime drama on telly  She with lives with her mum, her daughter and her young grandson at the family home. Mare and the family are still coming to terms with the suicide of her son, Kevin. With a no-nonsense personality, Mare does, however, begin to fall apart at the seams as the case and the unprocessed grief for her son threatens to bring her down. Happy Valley was broadcast in 2014 on BBC One. It starred iconic former Corrie actress Sarah Lancashire in award-winning form as formidable local police officer, Catherine Cawood. Like Mare, shes bringing up her grandson in her family home after her daughter Becky took her own life. And also like Mare, shes had trouble processing her grief  especially when Ryans father Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) shows up out of the blue. Theres one big problem: Catherine believes that Tommy raped her daughter and pushed her over the edge. Kate Winslet in action in Mare of Easttown (Credit: Sky Atlantic)  Mare and Catherine  kindred spirits  Both Mare and Catherine are permanently exhausted, and both carrying with them a determination to rid their town of crime. They both know everyone in their respective towns, and both have traumatic recent pasts linked to their offspring  in Mares case her son, and Catherines case, her daughter. They also live with family members and are both brilliant police officers  they need to be because there are cases that need solving. Mare creator Brad Ingleby hasnt mentioned the comparisons between the two series. The US series is very definitely not a remake of Happy Valley. In her review in the Hollywood Reporter, Inkoo Kang said: HBOs Mare of Easttown is as much a portrait of a town as it is a crime drama. Read more: Happy Valley writer says series three is not on the back burner  Starring Kate Winslet as detective Mare Sheehan, the seven-part limited series acutely recalls Happy Valley, Sally Wainwrights (far superior) BBC/Netflix show about a middle-aged female cop who often seems to be the only person holding together her drug-ravaged working-class town, even as its dysfunctions follow her home.  If youve not watch either Mare of Easttown or Happy Valley yet, shoot them both to the top of your must-watch list.