Third time lucky in deadly Dorset

Broadchurch, ITV, Monday

COMING up with a great second series can be a real killer for TV dramas.

And the second run of Broadchurch almost proved fatal. It went from water cooler TV to – what the heck?

When a third batch of episodes about life in the Dorset crime hotspot was ordered, scepticism mingled with hope. Happily, it was like welcoming back an old friend.

Dodgy last series, what dodgy last series? As the forbidding cliffs and moody streets filled our screens, all was forgiven.

It’ll be three and out after this – and three was the magic number here.

The relationship between David Tennant’s DI Alec Hardy and Olivia Colman’s DS Ellie Miller has been as bitter as it has been sweet.

It still has an edge, with local girl Miller bridling at his querying as to whether she’s come across the rape victim.

“It’s not Trumpton. I don’t know everyone,” she snapped.

But they are now a joinedat-the-hip team who are a sheer joy to watch.

Just a look, a pause, or a simple line delivers more than other overwrought dramas can manage in an hour.

And the third leg, Julie Hesmondhalgh as victim Trish, commanded the screen equally. Restraint, not histrionics, was the order of the day.

When her Hayley died in husband Roy’s arms in Corrie, a nation wept.

Here, she was every bit as grippingly unmissable.

Roll on the next seven weeks.