When asked to compile a list of five television shows I thought were near-perfect, Broadchurch was not on the list, but it surely would have been on a top ten.
When idyllic seaside town Broadchurch awakens to find 11 year old Danny Latimer (Oskar McNamara) murdered, local Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) struggles with both her personal connection to the victim and his family and with being placed second-in-command to newly-transferred Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant.) As the investigation deepens, the series gives equal focus to the impact on the close-knit community, and the suspicion that builds as the reality of criminal investigation sets in.
At a time when crime television was focused on stylish forensics, interpersonal drama, and wrapping up a new crime each week, Broadchurch was novel in letting its investigation unfold slowly. The scenic cliffs and Ólafur Arnalds’s score are as much the stars as the story. The series was adapted internationally, as Malatera in France, Vina in Slovakia, and Gracepoint in the United States (oddly with David Tennent playing the equivalent of his DI Hardy character) but none could replicate the slow-burn excitement of the original.
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