To My Dearest Town of Broadchurch

I started watching this wonderful, emotionally vacillating show a few months ago and stopped about halfway through the first episode due to the poor quality of the site I was streaming it on. Upon renewing my interest a couple of nights ago, I decided I must finish Broadchurch before it somehow gets spoiled for me by possible acquaintances or strangers on other social media sites commenting on the outcome of the show.  This is a who-dun-it of immense proportions and I somehow remained free of spoilers despite the carefree way I read Wikipedia pages.

My love letter is after the jump.  Spoilers are hidden as best as I could contain them.

Broadchurch.  Television perfection in eight parts.

I admit that Broadchurch first caught my attention because I wanted more more more more of actors from Doctor Who.  I was getting over the loss of Rory and had just finished watching Single Father with David Tennant and to my surprise found that they both starred in a television show together.  Called Broadchurch?  Every time I tell someone aloud the name of the show they say, "What? I don't understand what you're saying."  A very simple explanation of Broadchurch is:

An examination of how a murder and its subsequent investigation rattles a small, intimate community.

This does not give Broadchurch the credit it deserves.

Broadchurch is more than well-acted, it feels real.  Beth Latimer's despondency, DI Alec Hardy's humility perceived as arrogance, Ellie Miller's naivety and growing jadedness.  These characters grow in complexity and depth in the sixty or so days that the miniseries covers.  There is not a weak character among them.  These are real people, not the one-sided characters you often get when you try to cram an ensemble of talented actors in to eight 48-minute episodes.

If you look at how common these base character descriptions can be, you then take masterful writing to bring something more to these typecasts.  Elderly curmudgeon with a mysterious past,  an ambitious young journalist looking for that big breaking story, a handful of bored housewives, a vicar running from his dark past and a rebellious teenager sneaking around behind her parents' backs.  Adoption, mistaken identities, roguish police officers and, yes, even a psychic with unclear motives.  There is also a really cute dog named Vince in the show.  And he's pretty awesome.

The Latimer Family (source: ITV)

In my opinion there are a few standouts in this cast.  David Bradley as Jack Marshall, the aging local news agent and leader of the scout-like group the Sea Brigade.  Jack has demons of his own and is trying to live out his life as quietly and peacefully as he can while still being an asset to the community he lives in.  Charlotte Beaumont plays an angsty teenager, but she doesn't oversell it.   Her brother has been murdered and she she grieves in her own quiet way.  DI Alec Hardy (played by David Tennant), a nearly terminally ill police detective trying to redeem his life after failing as a father, husband and detective.  Olivia Colman (who has taken a turn as a police officer before) as an eager optimistic DS to Tennant's morose jaded Hardy.  A police detective with a family at home and intimate ties to the murder -- her son Tom had been best friends with the murdered boy.

Why does it work?  Other than the delicately written characters, it works because it is compelling, just suspenseful enough, and not too smart for its own good.  Unlike so many shows with mysterious deaths and people operating in the shadows, it doesn't treat you like a dullard, but it also doesn't expect you to be Sherlock Holmes to be able to follow the plot twists.  It feels like it is set in real time.

You are interviewing suspects and running through CCTV footage with detectives Miller and Hardy.  You are sitting and having a drink with Becca Fisher at the local Inn while everyone is asking questions.  You sit next to the Latimer family on a hard pew while listening to Reverend Coates give a morally unambiguous sermon on neighborly kindness and community.  You think you know your neighbors and coworkers and family, but you do not, and it takes a murder to bring these relationship failings to light.

The idyllic setting of a sleepy, coastal town doesn't hurt either.  The setting is a character of its own.  The coastal cliffs, sandy beaches, rural farmhouses, and middle-class family homes, the caravan park with shady characters, and the town newspaper/tourist office cluttered with maps, files, and back issues.  Even though it takes place in England, it could be a small town here in America.

Broadchurch is wonderful.  I don't understand why it needs a second series, and I most definitely do not understand why it needs to be remade for American television.  It is just perfect the way it is.

I want to insert a paragraph about the brilliance of Chris Chibnall, but I think this speaks for itself. Nefertiti, the Doctor, the Ponds (and Rory's father), a nineteenth century English big game hunter, and DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP.  And David Bradley is in the episode too.  If Chibnall can make a decent episode of Doctor Who out of this absurdity, Broadchurch must have been a stroll on a quiet Dorset boardwalk.

America, catch the Broadchurch finale on BBC America Wednesday, September 25.  Need to catch up?  The entire season is available for purchase to download now on iTunes or Amazon.