The first series of the British crime drama Broadchurch originally aired on the ITV broadcast network in the United Kingdom from 4 March 2013 to 22 April 2013. The eight-episode series began with the murder of an 11-year-old boy in the fictional, close-knit coastal town of Broadchurch in Dorset, United Kingdom. The series depicted the impact that suspicion and media attention have on the community.
Though Broadchurch was first conceived of in 2003, creator and writer Chris Chibnall first began fleshing out the story and writing scripts for the first episodes in 2011. He approached ITV in autumn 2011 with the series, and the network quickly approved it for production. The role of Reverend Paul Coates was written for Arthur Darvill, and leads David Tennant and Olivia Colman were the first cast. Other roles were cast using auditions. Principal photography began on 13 August 2012 in Dorset. Most scenes were shot on location, with the majority of filming in and around Clevedon, Somerset and West Bay, Dorset. Soundstages were used for some interior scenes. Dialogue rarely departed from the scripts, but other aspects of the performances were improvised. A documentary visual style and an emphasis on first takes were used to heighten the realism of the series and acting. Few of the crew and none of the actors knew the identity of the murderer when filming began. A number of steps were taken to maintain this secret. Only those cast and crew with an absolute need to know were told the identity of the murderer once filming began on the final three episodes.
Broadchurch series one received widespread critical acclaim and high viewership ratings. Music by Ólafur Arnalds helped to inspire the series' mood and tone. Arnalds composed the series' soundtrack, which won a BAFTA Craft award. Among the many honours received by cast and crew, Olivia Colman won a BAFTA for Best Actress and David Bradley for Best Supporting Actor, and the series won Best Drama.
Episodes
Supplementary content The final episode of series one finished with a caption reading "Broadchurch Will Return". ITV executives confirmed that a second series of Broadchurch had been commissioned, with production to begin in 2014.
Following episode eight, an extra scene was released on YouTube depicting Danny's wake, held the afternoon after the funeral but before the evening when the beacons were lit. Nigel and Mark were shown reconciled, Olly turned down a job at the Herald, and Hardy spoke to Karen about why he alerted her to Joe's arrest. The video ended with the words "Broadchurch will return".
Cast Characters in series one of Broadchurch included the following:
Police Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) – an experienced detective who recently arrived in Broadchurch, wanting a quiet life due to his scandal-tinged work history. He has difficulty dealing with Danny's murder because of his involvement in the failed Sandbrook murder case. Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) – a local detective married to Joe Miller, and mother to children Tom and Fred. She has a personal connection to Danny's murder, having been friendly with the Latimer family for a number of years. She is angry that the Detective Inspector's job was given to Hardy. Chief Superintendent Elaine Jenkinson (Tracey Childs) – head of the Broadchurch police. She appointed Hardy, an old friend, after his troubles during the Sandbrook murder case.
The Latimers Beth Latimer (Jodie Whittaker) – Danny and Chloe's mother and Mark's wife, she is overwhelmed by Danny's death and struggles to trust her husband. Mark Latimer (Andrew Buchan) – Danny and Chloe's father and Beth's husband, he is a well-liked plumber. Even as he grieved for his son, his secrets led police to suspect him. Chloe Latimer (Charlotte Beaumont) – Beth and Mark's 15-year-old daughter. A student studying for her GCSEs, Chloe is overwhelmed by her brother's sudden death. Her relationship with an older boy, Dean Thomas, is a source of comfort even as it puts stress on the rest of the Latimer family. Danny Latimer (Oskar McNamara) – Beth and Mark's 11-year-old son and younger brother of Chloe, his strangled body is found on a beach at the base of seaside cliffs near Broadchurch. His relationship with his family was problematic, and he had many secrets. Liz Roper (Susan Brown) – Beth's mother and Danny's grandmother. She is a devoutly religious woman who attempts to help Beth work through her grief.
The Millers Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle) – Ellie's husband and father to 11-year-old Tom and 1-year-old Fred. He is a former paramedic who is now a stay-at-home father, caring for Fred. Tom Miller (Adam Wilson) – Ellie and Joe's 11-year-old elder son, he is a pupil in the final year of primary school. Tom is alleged to be Danny's best friend, though Tom denies this. Delays in interrogating Tom and uncovering the truth about his relationship to Danny lead to problems in the investigation. Lucy Stevens (Tanya Franks) – sister of DS Ellie Miller and mother of Oliver "Olly" Stevens, she has a gambling habit and demands money to reveal information regarding Danny's death.
Press Maggie Radcliffe (Carolyn Pickles) – editor of the local newspaper, the Broadchurch Echo. She knows most people in town, and has access to information on various suspects. Oliver "Olly" Stevens (Jonathan Bailey) – Ellie Miller's young nephew and a reporter for the Broadchurch Echo. He is highly ambitious, and wants to get a big scoop so he can win a job with a national newspaper. Karen White (Vicky McClure) – a reporter for the Daily Herald, a national newspaper. She knows about DI Hardy's work on the failed Sandbrook murder case. Her desire to stop "polishing press releases" and become an investigative reporter brings her to Broadchurch. Len Danvers (Simon Rouse) – The boss of Karen White at the Daily Herald. Sam Taylor (Alfred Enoch) – journalist with the Daily Herald.
Townspeople Reverend Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill) – a young Anglican priest in Broadchurch. Coates' attempts to comfort members of the community reveals his awkwardness with others, and draws suspicion. Susan Wright (Pauline Quirke) – a somewhat unstable but highly observant woman who moved to Broadchurch five months ago. She dislikes many in the town, and lives with her Chocolate Labrador Vince in a caravan near the beach where Danny's body was found. Nigel "Nige" Carter (Joe Sims) – Mark Latimer's best friend and plumber's mate, he becomes angry and defensive when questioned about his relationship with Danny. Jack Marshall (David Bradley) – the owner of a newsagent and snack shop near the beach. Danny delivered newspapers for him, which gave Jack daily access to the boy early morning when few others were about. Jack's past is a mystery to most in town. Dean Thomas (Jacob Anderson) – a 17-year-old local boy, he is the boyfriend of Chloe Latimer. Because Chloe is not yet 16, Dean must keep his sexual relationship with Chloe a secret. Becca Fisher (Simone McAullay) – the owner and manager of the Trader Hotel, where DI Hardy stays after his move to Broadchurch. She had an affair with Mark Latimer and appears little concerned with Danny's death and more interested in her guests' needs. Steve Connelly (Will Mellor) – a worker for a local telephone company, he claims to be psychic. He causes problems when he says that Danny's spirit told him the murderer is someone close to the Latimer family.
Production Broadchurch was created and written by Chris Chibnall, and produced by Kudos Film and Television in association with Shine America and Imaginary Friends. Chibnall served as executive producer along with Kudos' Jane Featherstone, while Richard Stokes was producer.
Conception
Broadchurch creator and writer Chris Chibnall described the project as a labour of love. He spent more than a decade in the United Kingdom working on various television programmes, and initially conceived Broadchurch about 2003 while working on his first series, Born and Bred. The concept was to explore how a child's murder affects a small, close-knit community, and how the characters react to the media attention and the mutual suspicion that arises.
The location for the series 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 Broadchurch, but work-related issues made setting the show in Dorset appealing. From 2006 to 2011, Chibnall had spent most of his time travelling about the U.K. and Ireland, working on Torchwood, Law & Order: UK, and Camelot. Setting the show in Dorset meant Chibnall would not have to spend time away from his home and family. Chibnall's decision to set the show on the Jurassic Coast also helped him generate more ideas for the show and tighten the writing. For example, Dorset's most famous native son, poet and author Thomas Hardy, lent his last name to one of the main characters (DI Alec Hardy). Thomas Hardy's use of the term "Wessex" was used as the name of the fictional Wessex Police, and character Jack Marshall reads the Hardy novel Jude the Obscure. Chibnall also drew heavily on Hardy's concept of a "wrathful god" for the series.
Even the title of the series came from the Dorset setting. Chibnall invented the name "Broadchurch" based on two towns 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 West Dorset hamlets of Broadstone and Whitchurch."
Writing
Chibnall wrote the script for Broadchurch on spec after his work on Camelot ended. Chibnall had a very unhappy experience working on Camelot, and fell ill with pneumonia after leaving the show. While taking time off to recover, he began using whiteboards in May 2011 to create backgrounds for each character and craft the plot of Broadchurch—which he envisioned as being a trilogy. Series one was written to work both as the first part of a trilogy as well as a self-contained drama. The first series had to be self-contained, he felt, in case the show did not do well in the ratings and a second series was not commissioned.
Chibnall was adamant that Broadchurch not be a "whodunit". His concept was to show how a murder "makes victims of the whole community in all sorts of different ways. Some of them are able to deal with that and recover from that and build something from it; for some people it means they're destroyed by that so I wanted to look basically at a whole set of characters affected by this one devastating event and the different effects it had on people, so it really made sense of that and played straight into that central idea." His scripts then focused on what it would be like for each character to live through an actual murder investigation and its aftermath. This required removing as much police procedure from the scripts as possible, and focusing on character development.
Chibnall was assisted in the story process by his good friends Sam Hoyle (a television script executive) and television director James Strong. Broadchurch was influenced, Chibnall says, 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).; ;