'Broadchurch' Third & Final Season Adds Cast; New Case To Tie Up Trilogy
By Nancy Tartaglione
As ITV’s acclaimed crime drama, Broadchurch, heads into its final chapter, new cast has been added alongside returning stars David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan. Taking significant roles in Season 3 are Julie Hesmondhalgh (Happy Valley), Georgina Campbell (Murdered By My Boyfriend), Sarah Parish (Atlantis), Charlie Higson (The Fast Show) and Mark Bazeley (Home Fires). The eight-part drama is co-produced for ITV by Kudos, Imaginary Friends and Sister Pictures.
Shooting starts this summer in Dorset where Tenant’s Detective Inspector Alec Hardy and Colman’s Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller will reunite to investigate a serious sexual assault. The story will explore the consequences of the event as Broadchurch again comes under the scrutiny of Hardy and Miller’s investigation. The final chapter looks at the emotional cost to all of those involved and the irreparable damage to friendships and relationships.
The first two seasons focused on the death of young Danny Latimer and the subsequent trial resulting from the investigation. Whittaker and Buchan are back as Danny’s parents Beth and Mark Latimer. Also returning are Arthur Darvill as Vicar Paul Coates, Carolyn Pickles as newspaper editor Maggie Radcliffe and Adam Wilson as Ellie’s son Tom.
Season 1 was a revelation in contemporary UK drama and managed to keep a nation rapt for the finale’s big reveal in 2013. The show was then adaptated as Gracepoint in the U.S. (also starring Tennant) but didn’t find the same favor. Season 2 of Broadchurch, which wrapped in February 2015, averaged 9M viewers in the UK.
The series is created by Chris Chibnall who exec produces for Imaginary Friends. Jane Featherstone exec produces for Sister Pictures.
Said Chibnall, “We have one last story to tell, featuring both familiar faces and new characters. I hope it’s a compelling and emotional farewell to a world and show that means so much to me.”
The season will be directed by Paul Andrew Williams (The Eichmann Show, Murdered by My Boyfriend), Daniel Nettheim (Doctor Who, Humans) and Lewis Arnold (Prey, Humans).
The Shores (Dorset’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre) and Dorset Rape Crisis have supported and advised Chibnall throughout writing the scripts for this season of Broadchurch.
BBC America airs Broadchurch in the U.S.
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