Baffled by Broad church? Read on
TV’s most gripping drama is back – but viewers say they can’t follow the plot twists. So if you’re a die-hard fan or feel you’re missing out, here’s EVERYTHING you need to know . . .
THE return of ITV’s Bafta-winning crime drama Broadchurch this week has been hailed as the TV event of the New Year, but it’s left millions of viewers baffled by two big questions: what exactly is going on; and what on earth is David Tennant mumbling about? Daily Mail TV critic CHRISTOPHER STEVENS tries to get to the bottom of the case . . . SORRY DAVID, WHAT DID YOU SAY?
tennant, who spoke with a pitch-perfect London accent in Doctor Who, has reverted to his native Glaswegian with an added slur, as Detective Inspector Alec Hardy.
The troubled copper has a serious medical condition, though he won’t reveal its precise nature, and his habit of downing prescription drugs seemed to blur his diction further still.
To make things worse, the rest of the cast, i ncluding Olivia Colman, have strong West Country accents — Broadchurch is a fictional town on the Dorset coast, and is filmed in the county’s West Bay.
THE STORY SO FAR . . .
THE subtitle for Broadchurch is ‘A Town Wrapped In Secrets’ and that’s the appeal of the show. It seems everyone is guilty of something.
The first series, which peaked at more than 10 million viewers in April 2013, focused on the hunt for a child killer, after the body of 11-year-old newspaper boy Danny Latimer was found at the foot of cliffs. His parents, Beth and Mark, were distraught — but early suspicions fell on the father, who didn’t have an alibi.
The town’s resident detective sergeant, Ellie Miller ( played by Colman), and her husband Joe, also o have an 11-year- old son, Tom, whoo was Danny’s best friend. The couple were good friends of the bereaved parents. For Ellie, then, this wasn’t t just an i nvestigation — it was a personal tragedy.
To run the i nquiry, DI Hardy (Tennant) was drafted in, but he had d his own demons. A previous case, where two girls had disappeared in a town called Sandbrook, had turned d into a disaster when the prosecution n case fell apart and the chief suspectt walked free.
Since then, Hardy has been a broken n man, plagued by il l health. He collapsed on two occasions during the Broadchurch investigation, and was hospitalised with heart problems.
Hardy discovered that Mark Latimer did have an alibi for the night his son died — but it was one that would tear the family apart still further. He was having an affair with glamorous local hotel manager, Becca Fisher. His wife Beth couldn’t leave him, not only because their teenage daughter Chloe relied on her, but because she was expecting another baby herself.
The police began to suspect local vicar Paul Coates, who had been giving Danny and Tom computer lessons. But then came a breakthrough, thanks to Ellie’s unpleasant sister Lucy, who demanded money in exchange for information.
That led DI Hardy to a deserted chalet overlooking the bay, where Danny had been killed. As the police closed in, the killer decided to give himself up — and was revealed as Ellie’s husband, Joe. He described in detail to police how he had throttled Danny — by accident, he claimed.
Joe said he had given Danny a mobile phone and £500 after he became obsessed with touching the child. When Danny tried to call a halt to their meetings, Joe snapped and attacked him, pinning the boy to the wall by the throat. Then he dumped the body on Broadchurch sands. Joe has always insisted he was not a paedophile.
Ellie was devastated. In a scene that left viewers stunned, she attacked her husband in a police cell, weeping uncontrollably as she lashed out at him with fists and feet.
As the series ended, the town held a vigil for Danny. It seemed as if the grieving could give way to healing. But the new series has dashed those hopes.
SO WHAT’S THIS NEW SERIES ABOUT?
In LAST Monday’s dramatic courtroom reversal, Joe stood i n the dock charged with murder and, despite his earlier confession, pleaded ‘not guilty’. That means the case must go to trial, as the prosecution fights to prove his guilt. ‘ nobody’s innocent,’ he told Rev Coates in the prison visitors’ room later. ‘ Everyone’s hiding things.’
As rival lawyers for prosecution and defence began their own investigations, it seems that all Broadchurch’s secrets are about to spill out.
OOOH . . . WHAT MIGHT THEY BE HIDING?
IF HE didn’t kill Danny, he must have had an overwhelming reason to confess — and that reason must be rooted in his love for his family. What is he hiding? Whatever his secret is, he cannot even share it with his wife, Ellie.
The only plausible answer might be that Joe is protecting his older son, Tom, who used to be Danny’s best friend before they fell out. Does Joe suspect that his son i s the real murderer? Or is he simply afraid, after a taste of prison, that a Guilty plea will mean spending the rest of his life behind bars?
DI Alec Hardy (David Tennant)
THE detective inspector is haunted by the Sandbrook case, where he failed to gain a conviction against a suspect after two teenage girls disappeared.
now we’ve discovered that Hardy, in a bid to get a conviction on that case, persuaded the chief suspect’s wife, Claire, to testify against her own husband Lee, and t hat she has been living in fear of her life since he walked free. What is he hiding? The seriously ill detective has been helping Claire to live in an unofficial witness protection programme, at a remote cottage near Broadchurch. But he believes he is also being stalked by Lee, after an intruder broke i nto t he harbourside chalet where Hardy l i ves and stole medical letters.
He’s also being cagey about his current status as a police officer: is he on l eave, or has he been suspended?
DS Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman)
THE big- hearted police sergeant, now on traffic duty in Devon, never disguises her emotions. She’s honest, generous and trusting but she has a blind spot: she cannot believe ill of the people she l oves, until t he evidence is too massive to be ignored. What is she hiding? After her husband’s arrest,
her family has been torn apart, and her son Tom no longer lives with her. Perhaps she has discovered something about Tom’s life and his own secrets that she bitterly resents.
At any rate, she has left him in the care of her sister Lucy, a former heavy drinker and drug abuser.
Tom Miller (Adam Wilson)
He was victim Danny’s best friend, but the boys fell out.
Tom (pictured left) sent angry texts and emails to his schoolmate, and then tried to delete them and destroy the evidence. What is he hiding? He hasn’t told the police everything he knows, not by a long way. He is cunning and devious, and tried to destroy his laptop rather than risk letting Hardy examine it.
He later claimed it was just emails that he wanted to erase, but whatever dark secrets lie at the heart of Broadchurch, Tom is central to some of them.
Beth Latimer (Jodie Whittaker)
THE victim’s mother, she lashed out at everyone around her in grief after her son was killed.
But much of her behaviour seemed suspicious — so much so that the actress who plays her begged writer Chris Chibnall to reassure her that Beth isn’t the real killer. He insists that she is not. What is she hiding? she and her husband Mark were teenage sweethearts, and she claims he’s the only man she’s ever slept with. But their relationship has been on the verge of collapse for years.
Can we be sure the baby Beth is expecting is really her husband’s? It would be a bitter irony if Joe, the man in the dock, turned out to be the father of Beth’s unborn child. He WAS the cocky Jack-the-lad, loved by the whole town. But Mark’s world has been crumbling as he struggles to cope with his grief.
when he realised the body of his son was being exhumed as part of the court case, he lost his temper and had to be restrained by his friend and employee, Nige Carter (see below). What is he hiding? This violent streak could run deep. More troubling still, he appears to be compensating for the loss of his son by cultivating a friendship with young Tom Miller, ellie’s son. The two have secretly spent hours playing a football videogame at an abandoned caravan.
It’s a dangerous relationship, with echoes of the strange man-and-boy friendship between Joe and Danny.
Is young Tom seeking some kind of twisted revenge? Or, for that matter, is Mark seeking to avenge his son’s death?
The Rev Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill)
Behind his facade of Christian meekness, the Rev Coates is a schemer who l oves t o know everybody’s business and wants to be involved in all their lives. What is he hiding? An affair with saucy hotel manager Becca, for a start. In last week’s episode, the couple were briefly seen kissing in the street. But the Reverend has a darker secret that f ew of his parishioners know — he is a recovering alcoholic who attends AA meetings in a neighbouring town. More disturbing still, can we be sure his interest in Danny and Tom was entirely innocent?
And are his prison visits to see Joe purely for pastoral care — or could there be another reason for urging him to face up to the crime? He certainly seemed devastated when Joe changed his plea to ‘not guilty’.
Chloe Latimer (Charlotte Beaumont)
THE victim’s older sister used to be the troublemaker of the family. Her drug-using layabout of a boyfriend, Dean, was older than her, and she once hid cocaine in her bedroom as a favour to her part- ti me employer, hotel owner Becca Fisher. What is she hiding? we haven’t seen her boyf riend yet in series two, and we have no idea if she still dabbles in drugs. But i t seems unlikely that a teenager with such a selfish and rebellious streak could suddenly become a saint. Chloe will keep her secrets close to her chest.
Maggie Radcliffe (Carolyn Pickles)
Cynical and manipulative, she is the editor of the local newspaper. What is she hiding? she has past links to retired barrister Jocelyn Knight, played by Hollywood actress Charlotte Rampling. she was able to exploit these, and force the reluctant QC to become prosecutor at the trial.
At the trial, Jocelyn will be battling against a former female pupil of hers, who is acting for Joe’s defence. with skeletons in both women’s closets, expect the fight to get dirty.
Olly Stevens (Jonathan Bailey)
The obnoxious young reporter is willi ng to stoop to any depths to get a st o r y. His mother is ellie’s dodgy sister, Lucy stevens, so ‘ murderer’ Joe is his uncle.
What is he hiding? we’ve seen that Olly’s willing to steal before now. If stalker Lee Ashworth is not the one who broke into Hardy’s home and took his medical documents, the prime suspect is Olly.
Becca Fisher (Simone McAullay)
we Know very little about this Australian expat (pictured left).
she’s immoral and needy, ready to flirt with any man who looks twice at her. she has certainly had her eye on DI Hardy in the past, but now she seems to be in a relationship with the vicar — though that wouldn’t stop her from rekindling her affair with Mark Latimer. What is she hiding? Chloe claimed to be keeping a packet of cocaine for her, so perhaps Becca has a sideline as a drug dealer.
Nige Carter (Joe Sims)
AN apprentice plumber and Mark Latimer’s best mate, Nige is loyal, but he isn’t too bright.
As series two began, he was trying to cover up for Mark, telling Beth her husband was away on another plumbing job. It was an obvious lie. What is he hiding? All of Nige’s suspicious behaviour in the previous series turned out to be linked to his relationship with susan wright, played by Pauline Quirke — Nige had discovered he was adopted, and susan was his birth mother.
But susan has vanished from Broadchurch, and if Nige knows why, or where she has gone, he isn’t saying . . . yet.