Other Doctor Lives: Broadchurch: Series 1, Episode 8 (2013)

*Some very, very vague spoilers*

*Written in 2017*

Series 1 finale. As I’ve said before, this is my second time through the show’s first season, so going in, I already knew how it shakes out. I find it to be kind of a mixed bag—while some of the emotions are undeniably powerful, it doesn’t feel entirely put-together from a storytelling perspective.

The pressure is really on in the case, with Hardy desperate to find answers. The killer is revealed, and numerous lives are changed in the process.

Seeing it the second time, I still don’t know how I feel about the reveal of the killer. While there’s admittedly a bit of groundwork laid for who it is, especially in later episodes, I get more of a sense that the killer was chosen based on maximum “twist” value rather than what made the most narrative sense. And to be fair, that does sometimes happen with these sorts of crimes, “the person you’d least suspect”—but I don’t know. I might need to see how the upcoming episodes deal with the fallout from the reveal to really decide how I feel about it.

Additionally, the actual “aha!” situation itself on the detectives’ part reminds me a little of The Assets, in that it’s not really any great police work or deductive brilliance that brings our heroes to the right solution. The physical nuts and bolts of determining “whodunit” is a bit anticlimactic. (Although, narratively, it still plays out differently than in The Assets—there, the audience knows the whole time who the mole is, whereas here, at least part of the motivation is to hold info back in order to heighten the twist.)

However, the episode does have some incredibly strong, emotional acting from several cast members, and I do think the reveal raises some interesting thematic questions. Again, I think the true test will be to see what the show does with it moving forward.

As for Jodie Whittaker, I’m sorry to report that there really isn’t a ton for her to do here, which seems weird. Beth’s journey and emotional state has been a pretty important thread of the season, but here, when we actually learn who killed her son, she feels all but absent. Not that she isn’t there, but her screentime feels comparatively minimal, and when she is onscreen, the focus is more often on how other characters are reacting to the reveal. Definitely feels like a dropped ball there.

The next Broadchurch episode I review will be new to me. I’m curious going forward but also a little apprehensive—I haven’t heard the most encouraging things about series 2 and 3, and again, since Chris Chibnall is the one who will be taking over showrunning duties at Who, that worries me.

*Written in 2025*

I already wrote quite a bit about how the final twist isn’t foreshadowed that much in the show, but I want to dig a little more into how the actual reveal isn’t really grounded in good detective work. Rather than getting a really satisfying “putting it all together” or “discovering the smoking gun” moment, the answers are just sort of handed to them. Watching it this time around, it reminded me of some complaints I had about Chris Chibnall’s writing on Doctor Who, especially in series 11.

One of the difficulties of having the Doctor be the smartest character in any room is that the onus is then on the writer to show them being the smartest character in any room, and if the writer isn’t up to the task, the perception of the character suffers. Going into our first female Doctor, I was hyperaware of how any lackluster writing would reflect poorly on Thirteen, and this proved to be a weak spot for Chibnall. I see it at different points of his tenure, but I think the clearest example is “The Ghost Monument.” In wondering how this planet became so desolate and uninhabitable, the Doctor asks the same sort of questions over and over again, without really coming to any realizations/epiphanies about it. She never figures out the answer—instead, it’s dropped into her lap, an explanation of what happened literally spelled out for her in writing. Sloppiness like this undermines her characterization, just like the final reveal in Broadchurch undermines Hardy and Ellie’s investigative skills.

But despite those writing shortcomings, David Tennant still delivers in his performance. I like to see Hardy’s continuing trait of contempt for anything that impedes his investigation but a surprising level of calm/patience when it comes to the facts. Plenty of other characters are incensed and disgusted at this person who murdered a child, and emotions are very understandably heated. But when Hardy interviews the killer, he doesn’t shout or sneer, and he doesn’t take any cheap shots. He’s just trying to determine the truth, and he doesn’t let any of his personal feelings get in the way of that.

But at the same time, Hardy recognizes other characters’ feelings and the immense difficulty of this whole thing. He’s dead set against anyone doing something impetuous and rash that could jeopardize a conviction, but he’s gentle and quietly reassuring to a character who’s staggered by the weight of the revelation. Hardy isn’t often gentle, but Tennant handles these scenes in such a way that it’s still believable coming from him.

Near the end of the episode, there’s some truly unfortunate dialogue, some waffling that sounds profound without actually meaning anything. It’s to Tennant’s credit—and Olivia Colman’s—that they deliver the hell out of these lines. They’re selling them for all they’re worth, and it’s pretty impressive that they actually sort of pull it off.