02 February 2023 , 12:26
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Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield grilled Happy Valley star Con O'Neill as the actor joined them in the ITV studios today.
Con, who plays Neil Ackroyd in the popular BBC series, appeared on This Morning to promote his stint in Russell T Davies' latest drama, but Holly and Phil couldn't resist quizzing the star about the highly-anticipated Happy Valley finale.
His chat follows concerns from Happy Valley fans that the show may not be able to wrap up everything with just one more episode, but they have nothing to worry about according to Con.
After chatting with Con about his role alongside Helena Bonham Carter in Nolly, a tribute to late soap star Noele Gordon, Holly changed the conversation to all things Happy Valley.
The mum-of-three reassured Con she wouldn't ask him to reveal the ending, admitting she knows he wouldn't tell her, but pushed the actor on what viewers can expect this weekend.
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The Happy Valley actor revealed his reaction to the series' conclusion to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield (ITV)"Viewers are going to enjoy," Neil promised when chatting on the This Morning sofa earlier today.
"When I read the script for the last episode it blew my mind. Sally [Wainwright] has written an extraordinary ending."
He went on to explain that being away filming Our Flag Means Death earlier this year meant he missed a lot of the buzz surrounding the third series of Happy Valley.
The This Morning duo couldn't resist asking about the big final episode (ITV)The actor revealed how he has received "bizarre" direct messages on social media over recent weeks - with even his friends texting him their theories about the fictional crime drama.
As Holly questioned if it had been hard for Con and his castmates to keep the ending under wraps, he explained: "It's not a hard secret to keep as we've lived with this show for a long time.
"The way Sally has brought it home and ended it is extraordinary."
Con's appearance on This Morning comes as Happy Valley fans predict his character could possibly turn out to be a bad guy.
Some Happy Valley fans think Con's character may not be as nice as he seems (ITV)The penultimate episode of the BBC show saw villain Tommy Lee Royce contact his son Ryan Cawood (Rhys Connah) whilst in hiding. He reached out to him through a chat on a game console, with the pair subsequently having a voice chat.
Tommy claimed to have remembered his son's username from "ages ago," but Ryan didn't seem to particularly recall telling him. Asked if he remembered, he said: "Kind of".
Some viewers have suggested that it wasn't Ryan who provided his gaming tag, with them instead speculating that his great-aunt's boyfriend Neil Ackroyd ( Con O'Neill ) did.
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One tweeted this week: "I bet Neil gave Tommy Ryan's gaming handle. I'm convinced he has more to do with it".
Will Neil turn out to have sinister links to Tommy? (BBC/Lookout Point/Matt Squire)Whilst another wrote recently: "Might Tommy have been able to contact Ryan via the game cos it was Neil who shared his ID? Ryan didn't recall sharing that info with him."
A third said: "Tommy said he'd memorised Ryan's gamer tag but did Neil give it him?" In response, one viewer said: "Good pick up! Ryan seemed sure that he hadn't given it to him".
Another reacted to the theory by tweeting: "Ooh, this is a good theory [...] Maybe Neil has got some connection to Tommy?!" Some fans think this might be the case.
*The final episode of Happy Valley airs this Sunday at 9pm on BBC One