Broadchurch is all set for an explosive conclusion
‘All comin’ out of the woodwork now, eh?” remarked DI Alec Hardy in that slightly manic, breathless manner of his, midway through
Broadchurch (ITV). He was right, although his musings on patience and comparison of a police investigation to a vice (“keep applying the pressure, sooner or later they’ll crack”) got short shrift from his colleague DS Ellie Miller: “Thanks for that, Confucius,” she sniped. “So how come you’re so antsy all the time?”
Hardy and Miller’s spiky but fond working relationship is one of the most entertainingly credible on TV and the best reason for mourning the passing of Broadchurch when it finishes next week. A classic detective duo, they have been a source of light against the darkness of the storylines. Even when writer Chris Chibnall lost the plot in series two, it was Hardy and Miller – the irresistible chemistry of stars David Tennant and Olivia Colman – that kept us watching.
This time, dark nights of the soul have been left to others. Like Mark Latimer (Andrew Buchan) who it turns out, after last week’s closing suicide attempt, was still alive – shockingly. Much as we were encouraged to feel his pain and confusion then, we were now reminded how selfish his actions were. The scenes featuring his horrified daughter Chloe (Charlotte Beaumont) and furious wife Beth (Jodie Whittaker) were so powerfully written and acted they had the moral heft of a sermon.
Chibnall wears his heart on his scripts. The social value of journalism got a rare TV-thumbs up when newspaper editor Maggie Radcliffe (Carolyn Pickles) stood up for integrity against the tide of “click-bait prurience peddled by her new proprietors”. Less convincing was a scene in which Hardy threatened to emasculate youths who shared pictures of his daughter on social media. The sentiment was noble, and Tennant gave it plenty of welly, but the result was more comical than persuasive.
Meanwhile, that woodwork had to be attended to, and the investigation progressed. Ed Burnett (Lenny Henry), the world’s least likely suspect, was released from custody, as the evidence mounted against mechanic Jim Atwood (Mark Bazeley) and creepy cab driver Clive Lucas (Sebastian Armesto). We left Hardy and Miller serving up yet another cliffhanger, staring slack-jawed at an email that held out the promise, finally, of identifying the culprit. Fingers crossed it presages a denouement explosive enough to let Broadchurch go out with the bang it deserves.
Ihave only fleeting recollections of Sailor, the hit Seventies TV series about life aboard HMS Ark Royal. But it left an abiding impression of naval power, and its theme tune – Rod Stewart’s Sailing – lives on in memory and pops up whenever a series such as Warship (Channel 4) appears on screen.
Forty years on, this three-parter is attempting to do something similar aboard HMS Ocean, the Royal Navy’s current flagship. But this vessel seemed not to ct the magnificence and might of that great service so much as its decline. Setting off on a sevenmonth deployment through the Mediterranean and on to the Persian Gulf, the portrait captured was of a hugely committed crew nursing along a ship that wasn’t fit for purpose.
Within an hour of leaving Plymouth one of the two massive engines failed. “She’s quite hard work,” said the chief engineer cheerily as a voice-over explained how out of date the machinery was, and how hard parts were to come by. The fact that the age-old remedy of “switch it off and on again” was what eventually resolved the problem was only slightly reassuring. Especially as, two weeks later, during a major training exercise off the coast of Albania, the engine went again. A 30-hour race to strip out and replace one of the massive cylinder heads ensued. Fascinating as it was to watch, it wasn’t exactly the image of naval power one might wish for when we’re about to go it alone again in the post-Brexit era.
Still, as a fact-packed film about an enclosed community of almost a thousand men and women, Warship had its moments. Especially when recording the impressions of the 130 enthusiastic newbies among the crew, setting out on their first seafaring adventure. I’m pretty sure Warship won’t catch the public imagination like Sailor did – it simply doesn’t have the grandeur of subject or ambition – but as a no frills account of life on the ocean wave today, it makes a mark.