Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: David Tennant, Olivia Coleman, Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan, Charlotte Beaumont, Tanya Franks, Carolyn Pickles, Jonathan Bailey, Joe Sims, Arthur Darvill, Simone McAullay, Charlotte Rampling, Eve Myles.
You can always rely on Chris Chibnall to throw a rather large spanner into the works. Not content with bringing one of the best detectives and certainly one of the most unique series to British television in 2013, he now invites all to revisit Broadchurch for a second time, and by doing so, throws everything that the viewer thought they knew completely and utterly into a frenzied doubt.
In one of those deceitful twists of artistic writing fate, the viewer is plunged into uncertainty as two words are uttered in the dock of the court which has the town of Broadchurch. As Joe Miller sticks the knife into a grieving family and a town still on edge with the simple phrase “Not Guilty”, the uproar in the court is echoed by families and viewers up and down the country. This is where a whole two years worth of waiting for the scintillating and gripping drama was thrown back into the dangerous waters of winter viewing and what a welcome return it is.
In any community there are always best kept secrets, hidden agendas and sides constantly being sought and Broadchuch is no different. However there are things hidden in the undergrowth, that sneak past in the darkness that makes Broadchurch matchless in its dishonesty and cheating duplicity. This is a town built on a community of lies and heartbreak and when Joe Miller decides to tell the world that he is not guilty, the theatre of the town gets a second chance to spill its undisclosed life.
Returning with pretty much the same ensemble cast is a huge bonus to the viewer; it adds continuality and reflects superbly on Chris Chibnall’s endearing presence as a writer. It is though a series of evolvement, it has to be to keep the viewer guessing exactly what is going on. With the additions in episode one of Charlotte Rampling as Broadchurch resident and reluctant prosecutor Jocelyn Knight and the wonderful Eve Myles as the connection for David Tennant’s detective Alec Hardy’s two cases, the intrigue is already ramped up in style.
The past always influences the present and by bringing Eve Myles into the picture as the wife of the chief suspect from the unseen and unsolved previous investigation, the past is going to catch up with Alec Hardy at some terrible point.
Broadchurch continues next Monday.
Ian D. Hall