{"id":30706,"date":"2023-03-04T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T08:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1794312"},"modified":"2023-03-04T21:50:04","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T20:50:04","slug":"broadchurch-turns-10-chris-chibnall-on-the-drama-that-gripped-the-nation","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/broadchurch-turns-10-chris-chibnall-on-the-drama-that-gripped-the-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"Broadchurch turns 10: Chris Chibnall on the drama that gripped the nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Millions tuned in to find out who killed Danny Latimer. <\/p>

By Louise Griffin\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Saturday, 04 March 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

When Broadchurch first aired on ITV in March 2013, creator Chris Chibnall<\/a> was concerned it was too much of a risk for the broadcaster. Eight weeks later, 10.5 million people tuned in live with bated breath to discover who killed Danny Latimer.<\/p>\n

The unmissable moment has gone down in British TV history \u2013 the camera panning up to reveal Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle), the husband of Olivia Colman\u2019s<\/a> DS Ellie Miller, telling David Tennant\u2019s<\/a> horrified DI Alec Hardy: \u201cI\u2019m sick of hiding.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were newspaper splashes, bets, sweepstakes, and the nation was hooked in a way that has only happened a handful of times since. A decade on from the first ever episode, Chibnall has exclusively opened up to RadioTimes.com<\/a> about just how it happened.<\/p>\n

Part of the magic of it (the \u201calchemy\u201d, as Chibnall puts it) was the cast: Tennant, Colman, Jodie Whittaker,<\/a> Andrew Buchan, Pauline Quirke, Vicky McClure, Jonathan Bailey<\/a> \u2013 and the list goes on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had Olivia in mind, definitely. She was one of the first names on the whiteboard, when I was putting up all the characters,\u201d Chibnall recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it just came about through various processes. We had an incredible pair of casting directors, Victor [Jenkins] and Kelly [Valentine Hendry], who were just completely fantastic. And they made lists, suggested people, brought people in, people read and people were really up for it as well, that\u2019s what we were really surprised by.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they also didn\u2019t get a full set of scripts. I think it was only episode 1 most of them read, maybe it was slightly more for someone like Pauline Quirke, but not much. And they all had to take it on trust. It was just astonishing. You look at someone like Vicky McClure coming in, doing that part [reporter Karen White], Jonathan Bailey, all those people. I feel really blessed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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David Tennant in Broadchurch.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Recalling meeting Colman for the first time, Chibnall is quick to admit: \u201cWe were so desperate for her to do it. It was me and Jane Featherstone, the exec producer. We\u2019re sitting in this place waiting for Olivia. And we were like, \u2018If she asks, should we tell her who did it?\u2019 Because we\u2019ve agreed to keep it secret from everyone. But obviously we were like, \u2018No, no, we mustn\u2019t.\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she sat down, she said, \u2018I\u2019ve got two questions \u2013 do we find out who did it and can I kick him in the balls?\u2019 <\/span>We were like, \u2018OK, it\u2019s your husband and yes!\u2019 So you know, we both crumbled at the first step.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDavid, we were really lucky to get him,\u201d Chibnall continues. \u201cI mean, obviously, because he\u2019s the busiest man in film and television. There were parts in America and it just worked out with the timing but I mean, you never know what\u2019s going to happen with acting chemistry on set.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was one two-hander scene we had with them early on in the show, and it\u2019s where Olivia\u2019s character Ellie invites David\u2019s character Hardy for dinner. And it was the rushes of that scene, and they were so funny, and they were both so brilliant\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

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Chris Chibnall.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

\u201cThey were so funny, so amazing and so true. I think they unlocked it because they also have that thing \u2013 I was really keen on making sure there was still humour and light and energy within a really dark and troubling story. They\u2019re just wonderful together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another essential element of that magic was secrecy, something the future Doctor Who<\/a> showrunner would have to get very used to. He knew from the early stages of drafting the script that Ellie\u2019s husband Joe was going to be the killer \u2013 but it was essential to tell as few people as possible. So, other than Colman, none of the cast knew.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a big part of it. Even during filming, [the actors] didn\u2019t know until the final episode script came out. So they had their own sweepstake, there were charts on the walls in the trailers and the make-up truck. It was just an approach I suggested we take by instinct really, but also I knew that it would stand or fall on people engaging with that and really kind of relishing that. We just sort of played every trick in the book. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe weekly nature of it just enabled people time to speculate on it and make up their own theories. The whole structure of broadcasting and ITV were really central to that \u2013 even the ad breaks and the cliffhangers were all very deliberately constructed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Olivia Colman and David Tennant in Broadchurch.<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Those very good reasons to keep the killer secret did nothing to quell Tennant\u2019s outrage when he discovered that Colman had known from the beginning though. \u201cLater on, David found out, quite near the end, that she\u2019d known all along. He went bursting into her trailer, going, \u2018You knew!’\u201d<\/p>\n

The main fear was that the shock ending, the reveal of Joe Miller as the killer, would leak. It was such a monumental ending that Chibnall had no alternatives in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight when I was writing the very first draft, I thought it was someone else [a different minor character] and then after I\u2019d written that, I put the script aside and then a week or two later I woke up with that in my head going, \u2018Oh, that makes everything make sense, and become exciting, become emotional.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the whodunnit aspect was really important, but obviously the emotional nature of it and the emotional psychology of the show, I think, is what people responded to, and you wanted to serve all those amazing actors. Because that\u2019s the other thing, that was part of the huge appeal, is you just had some of the best actors in Britain all in one show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it was always him, because it gave Olivia\u2019s character a really great arc, and lots of characters a really great arc, because of that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>

Chibnall did change some parts though. \u201cThere were things I expanded on, the story of David Bradley\u2019s character Jack, who runs the newsagent. That was a slightly smaller aspect when I was writing it and then when we got to the storyline involving him and his death, it needed more space. It became much more pivotal in terms of the middle section of the first series.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd because David Bradley is one of the most beautiful, wondrous actors you could ever hope to [see] and he was breaking your heart on screen. I still think about that confrontation with him and Andy Buchan, who played Mark, where David Bradley says, \u2018He was a good boy\u2019 about Danny. It gives me chills, still. It was such a beautiful performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with that extraordinary mix of factors, Broadchurch was still far from a guaranteed hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a massive risk for ITV because they\u2019ve really mainly done kind of episodic drama and that was what was working. They were very supportive, \u2018We love the show, we believe in it.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut eight weeks on a Monday night at nine o\u2019clock felt like the most massive risk and, because it was a serial, if people didn\u2019t see episode 1, then it really wasn\u2019t going to go anywhere. We could have been on at half past midnight by episode 4.\u201d<\/span><\/p>