What happens when you mix in the excellent actress Olivia Colman in with two Dr. Who’s and interesting stories in a seaside town? Then you blend in a few other good castmembers and three “who-dunnits.” You get an excellent TV series called “Broadchurch.”
Colman plays Ellie Miller one of two lead detectives opposite the irascible Alec Hardy played by David Tennant. Colman can act quite capably without saying a word, as her many facial expressions of surprise, disgust, disbelief, joy, pain et al are compelling. Hardy’s character had a health issue evolve after a previous murder case he led was mishandled.
Per Wikipedia, “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 and 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.”
Each of the three seasons of eight shows focuses on a different crime. The first year crime impact carries over as a child is killed and the accused is well-known to others. The mother of the child played by Jodie Whittaker eventually uses her anguish for good as a victim’s counselor, while the father played by Andrew Buchan is guilt-ridden the rest of the series. The second season focuses on Miller helping Hardy solve the earlier mishandled murder as well as the community-rending trial of the first season’s murder.
The final season focuses on a rape of a woman played well by Julie Hesmondhalgh who attended a 50th birthday party of her best friend (Sarah Parish) at an estate used for events. The premise of this and previous shows is there are several suspects who are such as they try to hide faults and bad decisions making them look guilty. It provides for good viewer discussion.
There is a huge ensemble cast that is decorated with recognizable names – Matthew Gravelle, Arthur Darvill, Charlotte Rampling, Eve Myles, Charlotte Beaumont, Simone McAullay, James D’Arcy, Marianne Jean-Baptist’s et al.
The series is worth the watch. We found ourselves watching the series in sets of two shows, taking a break between seasons to reflect on the various suspects. The show gets 92% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Colman carried home one of her many acting awards for her performance.
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Note to Readers: Olivia Colman would go onto achieve an Oscar for best actress in “The Favorite.” David Tennant would repeat the first season of Broadchurch in an American version called “Gracepoint,” which was good, but lacking without Colman. It did use an interactive online blog where fans could talk about “who-dunnit?” The killer is different in “Gracepoint,” so you can still enjoy the show if you have seen “Broadchurch” and Vice-versa.
This sounds like a thrilling series. I will check whether it is on Netflix.
Erika, please do. I hope you enjoy it. Keith
Note to Readers II: The three cases investigated in the three series of Broadchurch are tough crimes to behold. So, be prepared.