Broadchurch is a British crime drama television series broadcast on ITV for three series between 2013 and 2017. It was created by Chris Chibnall, who acted as an executive producer and wrote all 24 episodes; it was produced by Kudos in association with Imaginary Friends Productions Ltd. The series is set in Broadchurch, a fictional English town on the coast of Dorset; it focuses on Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman). Other members of the ensemble cast appearing in all three seasons are Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan, Arthur Darvill, Carolyn Pickles, Jonathan Bailey, Matthew Gravelle, Charlotte Beaumont and Adam Wilson.
The first series, which premiered on 4 March 2013, focuses on the death of local 11-year-old Danny Latimer and the impact of grief, mutual suspicion and media attention on the town. Danny's family, his mother, Beth (Whittaker), father, Mark (Buchan) and sister, Chloe (Beaumont), is a key focus. The second series, which premiered on 5 January 2015, follows the dual story lines of bringing Danny's killer to justice and a case from the past returning to haunt Hardy. The third and final series, which premiered on 27 February 2017, focuses on the rape of a local woman, Trish Winterman (Julie Hesmondhalgh), at a birthday party, while the Latimer family goes to extreme lengths to move on from Danny's death. Chibnall has stated that the third series was the last and that he had originally envisioned Broadchurch as a trilogy.
All three series received positive reviews and praise for the writing, cinematography, performances (particularly Tennant and Colman) and character development.
Episodes
Development
Conception Broadchurch creator and writer Chris Chibnall described the project as a labour of love. He conceived Broadchurch in about 2003 while working on his first series, Born and Bred. The concept for Broadchurch was to explore how a child's murder affects a small, close-knit local community and how the characters react to the media attention and mutual suspicion that arise.
The series' location was partly inspired by the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, where Chibnall lived. Chibnall says that he initially did not have a location in mind for the series, but the opportunity to improve his work-life balance made setting the show in Dorset appealing. From 2006 to 2011, Chibnall spent most of his time travelling about the UK and Ireland, working on Torchwood, Law & Order: UK and Camelot. By setting the show in Dorset, Chibnall did not have to spend time away from his home and family. His decision to set the show on the Jurassic Coast also helped him generate more ideas and tighten the writing. For example, Dorset-born poet and author Thomas Hardy's surname was used for one of the main characters (DI Alec Hardy). Alongside this, his first name, Alec, and other character's first name, Tess Henchard, are in reference to characters from Hardy's novels Tess of the d'Urbervilles and The Mayor of Casterbridge. Hardy's use of the term "Wessex" was used to name the fictional Wessex Police, and character Jack Marshall reads the Hardy novel Jude the Obscure.
The series' name also came from Dorset. Chibnall invented the name "Broadchurch" based on two settlements in Dorset: "I thought a lot about the literary heritage of this county. In true Thomas Hardy style, I came up with a compound location name of Broadchurch combining the hamlets of Broadoak and Whitchurch."
Writing
Chibnall wrote the script for Broadchurch on spec after his work on Camelot had ended. He began using whiteboards in May 2011 to create backgrounds for each character and craft the plot of the series—which he envisioned as a trilogy. Series one was written to work both as the first of a trilogy and as a self-contained drama. He believed that it should be self-contained in case the show did not do well in the ratings and that a second series was not commissioned. Chibnall was assisted in this process by friends Sam Hoyle (a television script executive) and television director James Strong. The series was influenced by two American television shows, Twin Peaks (created by Mark Frost and David Lynch) and Murder One (created by Steven Bochco, Charles H. Eglee and Channing Gibson).
The story was nearly finished on the whiteboards when Chibnall began writing the script. After about two weeks, he had a draft of the first few episodes, but he had not yet settled on a killer. About two weeks later, Chibnall woke up one morning and realised the main suspect should be Joe Miller, DS Ellie Miller's husband. By making Joe the main suspect, Chibnall focused the series more closely on Ellie and improved the narrative structure of the series so that it became about two families (the Millers and the Latimers). He then redrafted the first script and re-plotted and re-outlined the series. However, Chibnall kept the script loose enough that he could choose another character as the murderer if his preferred solution leaked to the press during shooting.
Only the first few episodes were written before filming began. Chibnall waited until casting was complete and he saw the actors perform their roles before writing subsequent scripts. These later scripts were shaped to take advantage of each performer's take on their role.
Production approval In autumn 2011, Chibnall pitched Broadchurch to Laura Mackie, the Head of Drama at ITV, who proved very enthusiastic about the proposal. Just a few days after she finished reading the scripts, she suggested that Chibnall contact Kudos, a production company. Mackie then took the show to ITV Director of Television Peter Fincham. Broadchurch was green-lit by Fincham almost immediately for airing in early 2013.
Although ITV made a sizeable financial investment in Broadchurch, additional funds were needed because of the cost of the large ensemble cast. Additional funds were sought from international partners, who would then win distribution rights in their territories. Before principal photography began, ZDF (German public-service television broadcaster) and BBC America (the American cable and satellite television network jointly owned by the BBC and AMC Networks) both provided additional funding.
Broadchurch was created and written by Chibnall and produced by Kudos in association with Shine America and Imaginary Friends. Chibnall served as executive producer along with Kudos's Jane Featherstone, while Richard Stokes was producer.
Series 1
The first series of Broadchurch premiered on 4 March 2013 at 9:00 p.m. on ITV.
Casting The role of Reverend Paul Coates was written with actor Arthur Darvill in mind and was the first role cast. The role of DS Ellie Miller was second, as actress Olivia Colman was Chibnall's first choice to play Miller and the role was offered to her without an audition. DI Alec Hardy was the third role cast, and the part was offered to David Tennant without an audition.
All the remaining parts were cast through auditions, which took several weeks. Although Chibnall had determined who the murderer was by the time casting began, those who auditioned for the programme were not told the killer's identity. The roles of Mark Latimer (father of the murdered child) and Karen White (a reporter for a national newspaper who comes to Broadchurch to challenge DI Hardy) were cast after Colman, Darvill, and Tennant. The role of Beth Latimer was cast after Mark Latimer and Karen White.
Matthew Gravelle was cast as Joe Miller, DS Miller's husband. Gravelle auditioned along with many other actors for the role, but Chibnall has said the casting team early on considered Gravelle their top choice for the role. The producers knew this was a critical casting decision: whoever they hired to play Joe Miller would need to act with great power in the final episode, so they researched Gravelle's past acting roles and watched as many of his performances as they could find. Chibnall paid particularly close attention to the Welsh language television series , in which Gravelle had recently played a lead role.
Principal photography James Strong directed five episodes of series one of Broadchurch; Euros Lyn directed three. Matt Gray was both director of photography and camera operator, and said he approached Broadchurch as if it were a documentary film, rather than a television drama. In Britain, very few scripted television programmes are filmed in the order seen on the air; it is far more common to shoot out of order. Usually, scripts are first broken down into their component scenes and shots. Scenes using the same locations or sets are shot at the same time, to minimise the time and expense of moving cameras and equipment. Broadchurch, however, was shot in order, to keep the identity of the murderer a secret until the end of the production.
Most of Broadchurch series one was shot on location to heighten the reality and intimacy of the series and because the Dorset coast was integral to setting the mood of the drama. The first cast read-through occurred at Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church in London on 7 August 2012. Principal photography began on interior sets at Vision Studios on 13 August 2012. Location shooting began the first week of September. Most location photography occurred in the town of Clevedon in north Somerset. Some scenes were also shot in the towns of Bridport and West Bay in Dorset. Three locations were used in the area around Yate, South Gloucestershire, and two in Bristol. Other filming locations included Shepton Mallet, Portishead, and Weston-super-Mare, and the villages of Eype and Flax Bourton. The oft-seen cliff where Danny Latimer's body is found and which features heavily in the visuals of Broadchurch, is Harbour Cliff and Harbour Cliff Beach in West Bay. Many of the villages involved in the shooting of Broadchurch received a boost in tourism, especially in West Bay and Bridport.
Not all shooting was done on location. Some sets were built at Vision Studios near Bristol, because equipment needs made it impractical to film on location. Two shots required green screen shots to composite images together. These "green screen" shots were filmed at Waterloo Film Studios in London.
Rehearsal on Broadchurch was kept to a minimum. To heighten the raw and tension-filled tone of the show, actors were often prevented from seeing the space they were to perform in until shooting began. Almost no improvisation of dialogue occurred on the set. A heavy reliance was also placed on getting the first take right. Director James Strong believed the first take was more spontaneous and more natural than subsequent takes. Subsequently, most of what the viewer sees in Broadchurch series one are first takes.
Principal photography on Broadchurch series one concluded on 4 December 2012.
Secrecy Chibnall was determined to ensure that the identity of the killer did not leak until the final episode aired. One reason for the secrecy was commercial: it encouraged viewers to keep watching. But Chibnall also believed that it would enhance the acting, as actors could not in any way telegraph or signal their innocence or guilt.
Several means were employed to maintain secrecy. All cast and crew were required to sign documents in which they agreed not to reveal the killer's identity.