Broadchurch

I just started watching this British series from 2013, on Netflix. There's an American remake Gracepoint (2014). Both have the same male lead actor, although he has different names in each.

Broadchurch is a murder mystery that instead of being solved in an hour an half or two hours, takes 8 48 minute episodes. Although the murder is apparently solved in episode 8, a second season (or series) is going to air next year.

David Tennant (former star of Doctor Who) plays DI Alec Hardy, who moved to Broadchurch because of its low crime rate, after being involved in some high profile case, which presumably we learn more about over the course of the series, only to find himself lead investigator of the murder of an 11 year old boy. Though he did not want the case, he refuses to step down as he doesn't think any of the locals are up to it. He's probably right about that.

Olivia Colman plays DS Ellie Miller who comes back from a three week leave (vacation), expecting to receive a promised promotion only to discover that one week ago her promised job was given to Alex Hardy. The murder investigation is hard on her because its in her home town, he son was the victims closest friend, she's known his mother for years. Hardy prefers to address his subordinates by their last name, she rather be called Ellie, than Miller.

Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams, companion to Tennant's Doctor) plays the local vicar and without any real reason to suspect him is my chief suspect, just because these shows like to make clergy out to be psychopaths.

According to wiki, none of the actors were told in advance who the killer was, not even the one playing the murderer. The idea being that if they didn't know it they couldn't accidentally give it away.

Other characters:
Victims father, mother and older sister. Sister's older, black boyfriend who's worried about the police because she's under age (term jail bait ring a bell?) and victim's grandmother.

Miller's nephew a reporter on the local paper with delusions of grandeur who's causing his aunt trouble. His boss, who assures the police he wont cause any more trouble but she doesn't know about the big city news paper woman, who has it in for Hardy for some reason and who has just arrived in town to give everybody headaches.

Miller has a husband and two sons, the older one who I suspect knows something but isn't telling, was the victim's friend. The other one is just an infant.


David Tennent also starred in the American version as Detective Emmett Carver, rest of the cast is different and apparently it has a different ending, as well as running for two extra episodes. Seems the British series was planned for 10 but they would only pay for 8, where as Fox paid for 10.

GuybrushThreepwood I watched Gracepoint. I never expected the ending! It was really good. I would love to see the British version someday and compare the differences.

Your Avatar picture looks like my Avatar picture of my cat Stretch.

Sounds like a great show to watch once the season is over in one sitting.

I can certainly recommend the UK original. It was excellent. And I'm very much hoping the new one next year will be as good

Two other excellent punchy police serials from GB which I can recommend are the Fall (second season just ended) and Happy Valley.

Watched the UK version first. Outstanding. US version was OK and would have been better had I not seen the UK first. Both are good but I really preferred the UK. Seemed more 'depth' to it. Maybe just the actors and David Tennant with an American accent was a bit weird.

Same as what Sorta Blonde said. For the same reasons I enjoyed Broadchurch more than Gracepoint but it was probably because I saw Broadchurch first

Now I have last(?) season/series of George Gently, 1st of Broadchurch, The Fall and Happy Valley in Netflix My List, for online viewing. Waiting for Midsommer Murders 16 to become available. Couldn't get into Ripper Street for some reason.

Had been watching a Canadian series, Murdoch Mysteries, but I got sick of Murphy and Dr. Ogden. They're romance is apparently not in the books, for good reason, they don't belong together despite the producers, writers and cast trying to force them to be a couple. I just couldn't stand another 5 years of it.

Yes, the George Gently series is also good !!
[Started a long time before Broadchurch though.]

I watched Broadchurch first and liked it more than Gracepoint. Apparently the Gracepoint ratings were poor, but Broadchurch will be getting a second season in the UK.
BTW, Gracepoint had an Easter Egg nod to Doctor Who. Read about it here:
http://toybox.io9.com/david-tennant-slipped-a-brilliant-doctor-who-easter-egg-1673529956/+rtgonzalez

I just finished the last episode of Inspector George Gently 6 so done with that show for awhile. Apparently going to be 4 episodes in 2015.

I saw that article about the Gracepoint easter egg.

I don't know whether you are able to access the "Dalziel and Pascoe" detective series ??
[Might be from just before George Gently.]

There was more than one series - in fact probably a dozen I would think.
And excellent, in my opinion

I enjoyed the Inspector Morse and Lewis and Endeavor series. Same actor in all (older but goodies). Also Luther if you like a darker detective show. Now watching Frost. Really good stuff (again older but good).

British Mysteries like Inspector Morse, Midsomer Murders, Lewis, keep me sane during the long winter months. I can watch the series over and over again.

I have Gracepoint saved on my DVDR player and now that the series is over I can watch all the episodes in order maybe 2 or 3 at a time.

Marie

Halfway through Broadchurch. That towns going to be a mess by the time the killer is caught. For a few seconds I thought there was going to be a second murder.

In addition to all the detective mysteries mentioned, I'll also recommend:
DCI Banks
Thomas Lynley
P.D. James Dalgliesh series (oldie but goodie)
Scott and Bailey
I also really liked the legal dramas Judge Deed and Silk.

Wow what an ending. I didn't know until just before they revealed the killer who it was. And one point which I cant mention, it became obvious. What is Broadchurch 2 going to do? That town barely get healed from one murder and another one happens?

I wonder about the next storyline, too !! As exciting as the first, hopefully !!

I enjoyed Gracepoint....and wouldn't mind if someone put n spoilers the killer and why they did it in the UK version.....

The first time I watched the murder flashback I thought the victim's voice sounded two deep for an 11 year old. Watched part of it again, still sounds odd to me, but maybe its an online thing.

Everybody in that little town had secrets, even the 11 year old murder victim wasn't entirely Innocent.

I can get most of those other shows in disc through Netflix but they're not available for online viewing.

Most of those shows I watch on my BBC iPlayer. It's about $9 a month.

Thanks Guybrush :-)

I loved Broadchurch. I hear it got much better reviews than Gracepoint. The British know how to do dramas. I think Happy Valley was even better. The main female character was very impressive. I saw her in Last Tango in Halifax, which I can also recommend.

I loved Broadchurch. I hear it got much better reviews than Gracepoint. The British know how to do dramas. I think Happy Valley was even better. The main female character was very impressive. I saw her in Last Tango in Halifax, which I can also recommend.

Oh no, I just discovered The Fall ran for 2 seasons/series for a total of 11 episodes, but Netflix has only the first series/season of 5 episodes. So I wont be able to finish the story. Had I known that before I wouldn't have started. By the time they get the last half I'll have forgotten everything.

BTW this series lead is one cold fish, and I don't mean the serial killer. I hope they intended that I don't like the lead investigator. She may be a good cop, but she's a lousy person.

The Fall is awesome. Somber, but keeps you guessing. I call it a 'dark' drama. The lead gal is the one who played in the X-files series. Much different part here. She's good at it. Her 'character' is part of the plot as you will see as it goes along. Get ready for creepy feelings on all fronts.

I watched the first episode of X Files, the very first time it aired, and than forgot it was on the next week, so thats how much that series impressed me. She plays the part well, I just don't like the character's personality. Finished series one. Not sure which series I'll do next. Have to see if Netflix has all of any. They have 3 series of "Luther" but apparently there's more to follow in 2015. Happy Valley apparently going to have another series this year.

I just watched first season of Scott and Bailey. I liked it until Janet s. No thanks.

I really like Gracepoint and Broadchurch

I love my Netflix & Hulu





Doc

Netflix has the second season of The Fall now.

Thanks, Guybrush. Happy Viewing!

Kind of an abrupt ending.

Supposedly Gillian Anderson wants a third season. What they would do with it I don't know. Just like I don't know what a second season of Broadchurch would be about, unless its the trial.

Definitely the trial! Oh so interesting. Watching on BBC version now. Whatever you thought you knew, forget it. All is changing.

I've been enjoying many of the British mysteries on Netflix as well. The majority of them are outstanding, with well developed plots and characters. Regarding Broadchurch,I could still see a sequel involving both key characters and an entirely new case or as suggested something developing from the trial. Some of my other favorites George Gently,Endeavour,Bletchley Circle,Waking the Dead,The Fall,Ripper Street.Foyle's War. This is a great way to spend a long cold winter.

So the British Broadchurch series 2 is airing on BBC Canada. I missed most of it, so hopefully there will be reruns.
Anyone seen Black Mirror yet? 2 seasons of 3 episodes each, plus 2014 Xmas special. I really liked it. Very similar to the old Twilight Zone shows, but updated with current and future technologies and social media aspects. I particularly liked the White Bear episode.

I'll checkout Black Mirror that sounds good colpet. I also would recommend The Fall. I thought it was very good.

I so can't stand Mrs. Pascoe. She's ruining Dalziel & Pascoe for me. However, according to several posts at IMdb she's .

Your "hidden" sentence is correct, GuybrushThreepwood

Whats hidden supposedly made the author of the books the series was based on mad and they had to make up their own plots later on.

Well, I certainly didn't know that

Can you get the BBC series "New Tricks" ?? [Or maybe you've already seen it ??]

I'm watching repeats of the first two or three years right now .... The early ones with the original cast :
Alun Armstrong, James Bolam, Amanda Redman and Dennis Waterman.

And I'm very much enjoying it

Once the original cast left though, it went definitely off the boil (for me, anyway) and I stopped watching.

Added New Tricks to my Netflix queue.

Adding to the list of BBC detective series, I just watched Shetland season 2 all 6 episodes. Closer to Hinterland but not as dark. Good twists.

Season 2 of Broadchurch is premiering March 4th on BBC America here in US.

Great !! I hope you enjoy it

No Shetland on Netflix.

No, I watched it on BBC Canada.
It is unfortunate that availability of these shows is hit and miss. I wanted to watch Black Mirror which was widely advertized on Netflix. But Canadian Netflix is different than the U.S. one, and it wasn't on there. II have access to PBS channels, but I can't watch the behind the scenes videos on the website. I use both BBC Canada TV channel (Shetland, Broadchurch), but use BBC iPlayer for most older shows. I adore the UK version of Antiques Roadshow, but only get to see half hour cut back versions airing on PBS, and even then they are from 2011.
It looks like there are soon going to be different streaming 'channels' all for a monthly fee, each showing one or two shows I would like to watch. We've got 2 new ones just out - SHOMI, and CraveTV. Between those, Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Amazon, watching my favorite shows will be getting expensive.

I'm watching most shows on Netflix, but Grimm on NBC. Had Doctor Who on Amazon but that gets too expensive.

Just got first New Tricks DVD. It plays a song, "It's Alright". If thats the theme song I love it.

I like it. Nice mix of serious and humor. I like the ironic ending of the pilot. This is one show where the disclaimer about no animals being hurt is actually necessary, given the chicken fighting (silly sensor) and the dog getting shot. I think she was right to Was surprised she had a gun though.

You've probably already seen the "Prime Suspect" series and the "Trial & Retribution" series, GuybrushThreepwood ?? But I thought I'd mention both here - just in case - as they are both top notch

Got "Trial & Retribution" and "Hustle" which looks like a British version of "Leverage" in my Netflix queue. I dindn't know Robert Vaughn was still around, somehow got the idea in my head he was dead. Don't know why, the other Man from U.N.C.L.E. is still with us.

Still my favorite scene in NCIS, Gibbs is asked what "Ducky" looked liked when he was young and Gibbs replies "like Illya Kuryakin" leaving his younger colleague who never saw the Man from U.N.C.L.E. confused.

Speaking of references to other shows, 3 times in an episode of Columbo in which he's a spy Patrick McGoohan tells other people "be seeing you" which the catch phrase from "The Prisoner", which he created and stared in.

Guybrush, I love that line in NCIS too

I really liked prime suspect!

Is anyone else watching the Detective series. 'Inspector Frost'. My friend and I are on season 14. First seasons were about 6, 45 to 1 hr episodes, but the last seasons are double episodes (2 for the whole story) and last about 1 1/2 hours each. Wow. Fun stuff. He's pretty good, funny yet determined.

I watched it, but it was awhile ago. I enjoyed it too.

I watched all the original Frosts and then all the repeats - and some of them twice !!

New series out from Australia...WINTER. A lady detective, surrounded by lots of antagonistic males, in a crime drama which started out with a young mother's death and lots of mystery about her 'best friend' who also got injured the same night, but who no one really wants to talk about. Continuing story. Looks good. Already 2 deaths and one serious injury and all very intertwined.

Just watched Trial and Retribution first two episodes. I still don't know if they got the right man. Good series but depressing.

Eeek

David Tennant spoofs his role on Broadchurch

Awesome! Thanks for my morning chuckle.

"David Tennant spoofs his role on Broadchurch"

That was funny, GuybrushThreepwood !! Thanks for the link

Love David Tennant! And all those actors who were in Dr. Who. Some I didn't recognize until now. Fun to see them. Can't wait till the next season of Broadchurch IF they have one.

I should have guessed.... Trial and Retribution story number 2

Broadchurch 2 will be available on DVD from Netflix in May. (As will final season of White Collar).

Thanks Guybrush.

Hmm seems my last post vanished into thin air.

Try again....I finally watched first episode of Broadchurch series 2. I agree with Joe Miller on one thing and one thing only, no one in this town is innocent. . I can see season 2 going to be even harder on this town than the first. And apparently there is a third planned.

That seems to be a trend lately, having no one be safe

I've watched all of Broadchurch II and enjoyed it very much and am definitely looking forward to a BroadChurch III

Me too Mad!

I really liked both seasons of Broadchurch.

Broadchurch 2 is still unavailable on my cable service. I could pay for it on iTunes, but will wait to see if it end up streaming on Netflix.

I hope Netflix adds season two for you Colpet. It is such a good show.

Finally took a bit of a break for SWTOR to watch more Broadchurch 2. Only first 3 episodes, but I think Alec Hardy in the other case has the cart before the horse. I think he's got murderer and witness reversed.

As for the main case, I don't know. I haven't made up my mind whether I believe the initial confession and flash back. Could be defendant did it. Could be covering for some one else. I actually had a different suspect in mind for the first season. So if they pulled a switch and had the accused not guilty I wouldn't be shocked.

The best shows are the ones that keep you guessing

I agree looney.

Watching all these British crime dramas with trials in them could give me a probably unfair view of British courts. Are they really that bad that a confession which led to the accused being beaten got thrown out because of the spurious argument that he confessed because of the beating, when in fact it was his confessing to the murder that resulted in the beating. I think it was hypocritical of the judge to than make another rulling leaving something in, which she probably should not have, claming she trusted the jury to make the right decision. Why didn't she trust the jury to decided whether the confession was valid or not? Seems to me that should be the jury's decision not the judges. And frankly If I was on a jury I would ignore such an order and would consider the confession. On the other hand, every question the defense asked the victim's mother was irelevent to the charge and the judge should have not allowed the questions.

Oh and I suspect things happening in the defending councils life are clouding her judgment in this case.

Guybrush, I expect those are just like what is on our tv...hardly a correct representation.

I think it’s obvious that a crime series such as Broadchurch and other works of fiction and should be viewed and enjoyed as such i.e. fiction. Take the well loved amateur detective so beloved by crime writers, the Miss Marple’s and Hercule Poirot’s etc, who we know in our hearts, would never have been allowed within miles of a real life crime scene. My favourite TV crime series is Morse but I never questioned why the amount of murders supposedly committed in the small university city of Oxford, would rate alongside as those in Chicago, when I know only one murder in over four years was actually committed in Oxford.

However as Gaybrush pointed out, we are less lenient on specific details in the story, as for example in court proceedings. I have never watched Broadchurch so I can’t comment on the show but in relation to how confessions relate to English law the following maybe of interest.

If a confession was obtained be threats or violence by a member or members of the public or by the police, then that confession would not be admissible in the trial of the accused. All police interviews with an accused are recorded and timed. On arrest the accused also must be warned that anything they say maybe given in evidence, i.e. they have the right to remain silent.
It doesn’t make any sense for the police to extract a confession by threats or violence as they would be guilty themselves of a crime, also they know any such confession would be irrelevant in the trial. So it doesn’t make sense to extract a confession by those means. Unless the confession is supported by concrete evidence that it is 100% genuine, it would not be admissible in the trial. However, if a confession was made in front of a number of witnesses, than it would count in evidence against the accused.

Incidentally the county of Dorset is really a lovely place to visit and guess what!! I’m taken a holiday there in a few weeks time.

Once again, it's fiction. If you think you know America by the TV shows, you'd be in for quite a shock!

Absolutely Anna, also historical movies are made for their entertainment value and definitely not for the purpose of instructing their audience in history. For example, Princess Isabella, when supposedly engaged in a relationship with Mel Gibson in Braveheart, was in fact just four years old. Not that it matters a jot, as long as you view the movie as pure entertainment.

I watch a lot of British crime "fiction" AND a lot of American crime "fiction" (and find they differ quite a lot) but whether they are "true" to life or not doesn't matter very much to me as I view them as purely entertainment

Crime "fact" is altogether a different cup of tea, of course, and I watch plenty of that, from home and abroad, too !!

I love watching the British mysteries series many take place in the beautiful English countryside. Another one i enjoy is Father brown. Have any of you watched it?

I have not heard of Father Brown but I am off to Google it now.

Yes. I did watch it some years ago

I've seen the old Father Brown but not the newer one.

Oh that's a dirty trick end Broadchurch 2 episode 7 without letting the jury chair person (why don't they just say chairwoman?) state the verdict. When did England abandon unanimous verdicts? And why? What ever the jury says I still don't have my verdict.

So whats Broadchurch 3 going to cover?

England has never abandoned unanimous verdicts; the sole decision of guilty or not guilty is decided by the jury. In certain circumstances the judge may accept a majority verdict—11-1 but only after if the foreman of the jury has told the judge after 50 hours of trying, in his/her opinion it is not possible to reach a unanimous verdict.
Not sure what you mean by a chairperson, the leader of an English jury (Elected by the members of the jury) is called the foreman.

Although the American justice system was based on the English system there are differences in both.

[quote=GuybrushThreepwood]

So whats Broadchurch 3 going to cover?


I read that the show will have eight episodes and that the original stars will return but that it won't air until 2016.

In America if its not a unanimous decision by the jury the judge will declare a mistrial, after asking the jury to try again several times. And the prosecution will have to decide whether to refile charges and start over. They claim the Constitution's prohibition against being put in jeopardy twice over the same offense only counts once a "not guilty" verdict is rendered. And now even if found not guilty the accused can still be sued in civil court for violating the victims civil rights by killing them, which never makes sense to me. How can you be civilly responsible for an act you've been found not guilty of committing? To me its just a way to ignore our Constitution.

Anyhow here's the BBC America teaser for Broadchurch series/season 3

for the link Guybrush. Broadchurch is a great show. I'm really looking forward to Broadchurch and Homeland returning. This year will be the final season for Orphan Black too.

Oh and I found an article that said the crime is sexual assault.

Thanks, Guybrush.

I really enjoyed the new season of Broadchurch. I love how they convince you that ten different people are guilty.

I just started watching the third season. Had it on DVR for months. And the scenes with Mark and Beth make me so angry. She stands there not seeing the anguish in her husbands eyes or hearing the pain in his voice, won't listen to what he's telling her he needs and she has the nerve to say he doesn't hear her. She does not give a [blip] that he's been torn apart by their son's murder and then accuses him of carrying for no one but himself. Not only does she have no concern or respect for her husband, but she allows their oldest daughter to disrespect her father.

I could suspect Mark of dealing with his anger by become a rapist but its probably too soon for suspecting people. And probably too obvious. I made that mistake in the first series/season when I though I knew who the killer was early on.

As to the victim's not telling who she had sex with before the rape. I have a theory about who that could be, probably wrong.

Hmmmmmmmm, I'll have to get around to watching that one of these days

One of my suspects for who she was with willingly turned out to be the rapist. So I was half right.