James Norton has claimed that his Happy Valley character Tommy Lee Royce has "matured" in the seven-year gap between series.
The acclaimed drama returned for its third and final series on Sunday, with psychopath killer Tommy still behind bars for multiple murders.
During his interactions with police officers, however, Tommy appeared to be a more mellow character amid suspicions that he is trying to forge a relationship with his now-teenage son Ryan (Rhys Connah).
"He has changed, he has moved on and grown and he has matured," said Norton. "He has calmed down and there is a definite shift in his demeanour and his temperament. I think that's because for the first time in a long time he has got hope.
"Unlike the Tommy we have seen of the first and second series he feels quite affable and in control, I think that's probably because we arrive in the third series and Tommy has information about something we don't know about yet. That information, that situation is giving him a sense of contentment."
Norton went on to describe Tommy's relationship with his nemesis Sgt Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) - Ryan's grandmother - as one of symbiosis.
"Tommy has Catherine and Ryan, they are the big two poles of his existence," he added. "Catherine has her family and does not want to think about Tommy. Tommy constantly forces his way into her life and her consciousness.
"They are in the best way, in that sort of old-fashioned way, epic adversaries pitched against each other. They are obsessed with each other, there's a kind of deep, deep hatred in the way that when you think about someone that you hate they inhabit part of your consciousness.
"There's a sort of, not love at all but, there is a kind of connection and affinity. There's a certain kind of shared experience they have in that they both obsess about each other. In that way they are inextricably linked and will always be in some way married together."
Happy Valley continues Sunday at 9pm on BBC One.
Neil Wilkes
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