Even though TV offers a lot of new shows, I’ve been watching quite a few older shows on Netflix lately. It is nice not having to wait a week before finding out what will happen during the next episode. The fact that I recent years I watched more movies than TV means I’ve missed a lot of good shows, including Broadchurch. It was recommended to me by several people and since season only consists of eight episodes (short series have in fact my preference) it was a good show to start with and finish in only a couple of days.
Broad Church is the name of a small village on the English coast. A town that lives off its tourism, people who like to see the impressive cliffs and beautiful environment. It is a relatively small community and many people know each other. When the lifeless body of 11-year-old Danny Latimer is found on the beach the community is in shock. DS (Detective Sergeant) Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) has just returned from her vacation and expect that she’s about to be promoted. To her dismay, someone from outside Broad Church, Alec Hardy (David Tennant), has received the position and will lead the investigation. Hardy is a difficult man who appears to be socially awkward and even difficult to interact with. Something which does not help the investigation.
As the series progresses, secrets of certain characters are brought out into the open. Sometimes that is a past that they would like to keep hidden, but it can also be a relationship which no one knew anything about. Once the media gets involved, tension rises quickly in the town. The residents believe everything they read in the papers (even though proper investigation wasn’t always done) and are quick to condemn certain individuals.
Although Ellie Miller and Alec Hardy are the focus of the show while they are investigating the case of Danny Latimer, you get to know many other characters really well too. Roles which are all well acted by the relatively large cast. You see the pain and frustration of parents, sister and grandmother of Danny, the anger of friends and also how those emotions change or destroy certain personal relationships. What Broadchurch does so well is to not only focus on the police investigation, but also on the human side of such an investigation and the impact it has on policemen in such a small community.
The story contains so many developments that it has tension througout the show. I could not wait to find out who ultimately responsible for the death of Danny and the final few episodes manage to shock. It is really a series that you want to bingewatch.
