Broadchurch series three: Shock finale applauded as series comes to an end

Broadchurch: Does series two deserve the angry backlash?

27 January

Broadchurch hit its halfway point last night with its lowest-ever audience, leaving some critics wondering if it is suffering from "sequelitis".

The series has seen a backlash in recent weeks for taking liberties with the legal system and stretching the bounds of reality with several storylines.This week's "courtroom lunacy" came as Joe Miller's defence barrister suggested her client would be found guilty if she didn't find somebody else to blame for Danny Latimer's murder, says Christopher Stevens in the Daily Mail."Of course," says Stevens. "That's how murder trials always work. If the lawyers can pluck another name out of their wigs, the defendant goes free."Luckily for the defence, Pauline Quirke made a surprise return as shifty caravan owner Susan Wright and promptly implicated her own son in Danny's murder.Stevens gives the episode just one star, complaining that the makers are "excelling themselves as they cram shovel-loads of stupidity into every cranny of their plot".But Ian Hyland at the Daily Mirror says that "short of taking out full-page ads pointing out Broadchurch is not a legal documentary I'm not sure what ITV can do".Hyland suggests the anger of "armchair legal experts" is due to their realisation that they went over the top with their "gushing praise" for the first series, and adds that he is "still hooked" (despite the fact that Beth Latimer's new baby Lizzie is growing at such a speech that she'll be "in court giving evidence by episode six").The Daily Telegraph's Allison Pearson says Broadchurch is "exhibiting alarming symptoms of sequelitis", a nervous condition suffered by successful one-off dramas under pressure to please the audience with a second round.But her colleague Benji Wilson is refusing to take part in the "backlash" against the show."Had no one seen the first series, we'd all be getting slowly drawn in to a devilishly constructed rural thriller called Sandbrook and doubtless quite happy for it," he says.The Sandbrook "B-plot" turned "A-grade" last night, says Wilson, as detectives Ellie Miller and Alec Hardy returned to the crime scene and found a new suspect, leaving the original suspect Lee Ashworth to woo his wife into bed with a Chinese takeaway.With these two detailed and seemingly non-connected storylines to "detangle and tie up", Jess Denham at The Independent says it is "tricky to see how writer Chris Chibnall is going to nail series two down for another string of awards".

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Far too much feels unresolved at this halfway point, she says. "Next week's Broadchurch needs to shed some enlightenment and fast if the drama wants to avoid becoming just another underwhelming sequel."

Broadchurch series 2: Another 'red herring' episode climax?

20 January

The third episode of Broadchurch series two ended with another "thrilling" climax but critics are worried it will turn into another "hollow" cliff-hanger.

Last night's instalment of the ITV drama ended with the "bombshell claim" that Olivia Colman's Ellie Miller had framed her husband Joe because she was having an affair with David Tennant's Alec Hardy.But Ben Dowell at the Radio Times says Broadchurch is making a habit of these "duff red herring episode climaxes" and thinks this latest cliff-hanger is likely to be demolished as quickly as the previous two.Week one's exhumation of murdered Danny Latimer came to nothing. Then last week's apparent kidnap of key witness Claire Ripley (Eva Myles) was resolved within minutes of last night's episode."If last week's meeting between Lee [James D'Arcy] and Claire that had them escaping out of a window wasn't frustrating enough, this week's conclusion of the cliff-hanger – they just went back to Claire's house after finding the not-very-well-hidden cameras – was more so," says The Guardian's Vicky Frost. Surely there were "less melodramatic" ways to move the plot along, she says.Frost is concerned that the everyday interaction between Broadchurch's residents is suffering at the hands of the plot.She praises scenes between Ellie and several other characters, but says we are seeing "increasingly less of those relationships that tie a community together".Benji Wilson at the Daily Telegraph points out that whenever things waver, writer Chibnall likes to "dangle a dirty secret before the audience, like you might lure a dog with gobbets of cheese". Last night, we saw defence barrister Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) visit her son in prison, while prosecutor Jocelyn Knight (Charlotte Rampling) visited her mother in a care home that she appeared unable to afford."It's contrived but in Chibnall's hands it is still effective," says Wilson. "Not having a dirty little secret in Broadchurch is the equivalent of not having a Range Rover in Chipping Norton – simmering guilt is this year's must-have accessory."And these secrets threw up even more questions. "Skeletons in the cupboard aren't just being located, they're getting up and dancing a jig," says Matilda Battersby in The Independent.What happened between the two lawyers in the past? Why is Bishop's son serving a six-year prison sentence? What is Claire hiding? And where did the dried bluebell in her wardrobe come from?

"Having thought we had everything neatly sewn up at the end of the last series, we suddenly seem to have discovered irreparable damage at the seams and with each new episode the dropped stitches (and questions!) keep coming," says Battersby. "Frankly it's quite stressful."

Broadchurch review: is series 2 starting to feel unbelievable?

13 January

The hype around Broadchurch season two appears to be dying down as some critics complain that the latest episode strained credibility.

This week, witnesses were called to testify against Joe Miller, who has pleaded not guilty to Danny Latimer's murder, turning the whodunit structure into a courtroom drama.Meera Syal arrives as the judge and dismisses Joe's confession as evidence because his wife, Ellie Miller, played by Olivia Colman, beat him up at the end of the last series.Meanwhile, Beth Latimer's (Jodie Whittaker) waters break just at the moment that Sandbrook suspect Lee Ashworth (James D'Arcy) disappears with his estranged wife Claire (Eve Myles).Broadchurch certainly "cranked up the pace", says Michael Hogan at the Daily Telegraph. "It galloped along like a racehorse wearing rocket boots."But while Hogan felt the storylines "gathered momentum grippingly", other critics were less impressed."Sadly, all the electric tension of episode one has evaporated, instead events are becoming improbable and additional drama seems to be shoehorned in for the sake of it," says Neela Debnath at The Independent.She complains that there is "so much going on that it's starting to feel unbelievable" and says "viewers may be wondering if Broadchurch should have been a standalone".Ben Dowell at the Radio Times also says that plausibility has been called into question. "The legal moments seemed the weakest to me," he says. "They never feel entirely credible (do the parents of murder victims really get to choose the barrister for the Crown?) and threaten to spoil my engagement with what is, for the most part, an exciting, emotionally sophisticated, beautifully shot and superbly acted drama."Another "remarkable" aspect of the show is "just how damn often" the characters find an excuse to go to the beach where Danny's body was found, says Hugo Rifkind at The Times. "Odd. Still, shame to waste the filming permit," he adds.Nevertheless, Rifkind is among the critics who remain impressed by the show, particularly its ability to undercut the drama with moments of comedy.The "genius of this unusual, tremendous programme" is the decision to drop a pair of essentially comic actors, Colman and David Tennant, into "lives that are not funny at all", he says.

Andrew Collins in The Guardian agrees that while Broadchurch is "grave and melancholy" by nature "even the most emotional scene comes sugared with that most vital of gallows' ingredients: humour".

Broadchurch returns with a 'twist-packed' opener

06 January

Broadchurch is back and critics are already heaping praise on its opening episode, which appeared to fundamentally alter the genre of the show.

The first series of the whodunit drama was a huge success, winning a string of awards and millions of fans. A publicity blackout ahead of the new season raised expectations even higher, and it didn't disappoint.

Andrew Billen at The Times gives the first episode five stars, describing it as "expansively told, imaginatively filmed" with an "extraordinary ensemble cast that churns the narrative like waves in a harbour".

In many ways, "the end is where it begins", as the trailer promised. Detective Ellie Miller, played by Olivia Colman, is still recovering from the revelation that her husband Joe murdered schoolboy Danny Latimer in the first series and the community continues to mourn the 11-year-old's death.

But the "Whoooa!" moment comes when Joe pleads not guilty to Danny's murder, forcing the town to endure a full trial and shifting the show's genre from murder mystery to courtroom drama.

"Broadchurch was not moving on," says Billen. "More interestingly it was digging deeper."

The show's writer Chris Chibnall had already hinted that the innocence of the community could only be shattered once with Danny's murder. "Without that shock, and with no new whodunit to unravel, will the series remain as compelling?" asks Ellen E Jones in The Independent. "On the evidence of last night's twist-packed opener, perhaps even more so."

The Guardian's Mark Lawson describes the move as a "brave decision" as it risks undermining the storytelling integrity of the first series. "Two speeches about everyone having secrets suggest we will discover much about characters we weren't told first time round, possibly because the writer didn't know it then either," he adds.

Joe's plea wasn't the only surprise. It emerged that detective inspector Alec Hardy, played by David Tennant, had been harbouring a witness from the collapsed Sandbrook trial that haunted him throughout the first series.

"Introducing this new strand to the story is an ambitious move and shows a certain amount of chutzpah from Chibnall as both cases will no doubt intertwine over the remaining seven episodes," says Ben Lawrence in the Daily Telegraph.

The only "false note" struck when it emerged that Joe's defence lawyer, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and the prosecuting lawyer, played by Charlotte Rampling, had worked together previously. "Their meeting on the beach was wildly unconvincing," says Lawrence.

But he adds that Broadchurch "continues to be a rich and complex tapestry which respects the viewer's intelligence and commands you to become an armchair detective".

Broadchurch returns: what do we know about series two?

5 January 2015

Mystery drama Broadchurch returns tonight for a second season but details of the opening episode have been kept firmly under wraps with no press previews. Cast and crew – including Olivia Colman and David Tennant, who will return as detectives Ellie Miller and Alec Hardy – have signed confidentiality contracts and were given watermarked scripts to protect against leaks. As The Times says "even Kim Jong-un and his merry men couldn't hack into this one". Nevertheless, the show's creators have offered a few clues about what's in store...

New faces in Broadchurch

Many of the old cast members will return, including Andrew Buchan and Jodie Whittaker, who played the parents of murdered Danny Latimer in the first series. There are new faces too. Cloud Atlas actor James D'Arcy appears in the show's trailer, telling detective Hardy that he wants his "life back". Oscar-nominated actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Charlotte Rampling, Eve Myles and Meera Syal will also feature in the new series.

Mysterious disappearance

Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall has assured fans that the second series will not simply repeat the whodunit plot of the first, although he insists it is still a mystery drama. "I promise we do not start with the discovery of another body beneath the cliffs," he told Radio Times. The latest trailer offers one big storyline clue when detective Miller is seen asking someone out of view: "Where were you both the night those girls disappeared?"

Links to season one

Colman has said that writer Chibnall set up a lot of the events of season two in the first series without anybody realising. "You find out very early in the first episode which direction it's going in and it's an instant, 'Whoooa!'," she says. "Chris set up a lot of things we never even thought about in the first series and now they've come to the fore. At the read-through we were going, 'You sneaky b*****d.'"

Sandbrook connection

In series one detective Hardy is haunted by a previous case that he failed to close, in which two young sisters were murdered in a town called Sandbrook. A vital piece of evidence – a pendant – went missing, meaning that the killer was never found. A girl wearing a pendant can be seen briefly in the new trailer, prompting speculation that Hardy and Miller will revisit the old case.

Anyone could die

Chibnall has teased viewers by suggesting that the body count could still rise. He told the Daily Mirror that even Hardy and Miller are not guaranteed to survive. "No one is safe," he said. "Who knows who will be standing at the end?"

• Broadchurch is on at 9pm tonight on ITV