U.K. hit Broadchurch retooled for U.S. viewers
Broadchurch’s Tennant takes Gracepoint role
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. — Nordic noir has come to Oak Bay.
Even by the standards of today’s increasingly adult, rarefied TV fare, Gracepoint is an oddity.
Gracepoint, Fox’s Nordic noir-inspired, filmed-in-B.C. adaptation of the U.K. miniseries Broadchurch, is the latest in the trend of North American adaptations of European TV shows.
The first two episodes, filmed earlier this year in a quiet seaside suburb on the outskirts of Victoria, are virtually a word-for-word, shot-for-shot remake of U.K. screenwriter Chris Chibnall’s critically acclaimed BAFTA and Peabody Award winning murder mystery for ITV.
The similarities don’t end there. Chibnall rewrote the U.S. adaptation from his original script. Gracepoint’s British-born director, James Strong, directed five episodes of Broadchurch before turning to Gracepoint.
The two series feature the same actor, David Tennant, in the lead role, but his character’s name has changed. In the original, Tennant played Det. Inspector Alec Hardy; in the remake, he plays Det. Emmett Carver. The original featured three-time BAFTA winner Olivia Colman as Det. Hardy’s reluctant partner, Det. Sergeant Ellie Miller. Gracepoint features Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn as Carver’s partner, also named Ellie Miller.
After the first two episodes, however, the stories diverge considerably, according to Gracepoint co-executive producer Dan Futterman, who appeared with Tennant and fellow cast members Virginia Kull, Michael Pena and Woodstock, Ont., native Kevin Zegers among others at the summer meeting of the Television Critics Association.
“We end in a very different place, which is both exciting for the first season and potentially exciting for the story moving forward, if there is a second season,” Futterman said.
“Not to be coy, but I don’t think you should rule anybody out as a suspect.”
Tennant insisted the two roles are different, though similar.
“Obviously, they both look like me,” he said, deadpan. “And they’re similar heights.”
Tennant’s character is somewhat of a loner and recluse in both versions. “That’s how I like to work,” Tennant said. “I ask that nobody looks me in the eye.”
Tennant applies an American accent in Gracepoint, which is noticeably different from his native accent— from Bathgate, Scotland — which he used in Broadchurch.
“It’s an unusual situation,” Tennant said. “It’s hard to be entirely objective about it, because it’s the same character and yet it’s not.
“It’s probably easy for objective observers to point out how they differ. They feel very different to me, though. The relationship between Carver and Ellie Miller is different from the relationship between Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller, because they are very different actresses playing those parts.
“The spine of the story is the same, and the spine of the two characters is the same, but there’s very different flesh on the bones, I think.”
Gracepoint premières in October, on Fox and Global TV.