Broadchurch A new drama for ITV Introduction ...................................................................................................... Pages 2 – 3 A foreword by writer Chris Chibnall .................................................................. Pages 4 – 5 Producer Richard Stokes ......................................................................................... Page 6 David Tennant is DI Alec Hardy .......................................................................... Pages 7 - 8 Olivia Colman is DS Ellie Miller .......................................................................... Pages 9 -10 Andrew Buchan is Mark Latimer ..................................................................... Pages 11 -12 Jodie Whittaker is Beth Latimer ...................................................................... Page 13 - 14 Vicky McClure is Karen White ........................................................................ Pages 15 - 16 Arthur Darvill is Rev Paul Coates .................................................................... Pages 17 - 18 Pauline Quirke is Susan Wright .............................................................................. Page 19 Cast and production credits ................................................................................... Page 20 For further information please contact: Lisa Vanoli – 07899 060230 / [email protected] Sarah Woonton – 0207 157 3066 / [email protected] Picture publicity: Patrick Smith, ITV Pictures 020 715 73044 / [email protected] Broadchurch Broadchurch is a new drama series by Kudos Film and Television for ITV. The star-studded cast includes David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Andrew Buchan, Jodie Whittaker, Vicky McClure, Pauline Quirke and Arthur Darvill. Broadchurch is written and created by Chris Chibnall (United, Law and Order: UK) and explores what happens to a small community in Dorset when it suddenly becomes the focus of a police investigation, following the tragic and mysterious death of an eleven year old boy under the glare of the media spotlight. Bloodied and dirty, Danny Latimer (Oskar McNamara) has been found dead on an idyllic beach surrounded by rocks and a jutting cliff-face from where he may have fallen. While his death remains unresolved, the picturesque seaside town of Broadchurch is at the heart of a major police investigation and a national media frenzy. The sadness of losing a child consumes the family, Beth and Mark Latimer (Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan), their daughter 15 year old Chloe (Charlotte Beaumont) and Beth’s mum Liz (Susan Brown) as they attempt to cope with their grief, everyday normal life and the abruptness of the unwarranted attention heaped upon them. Devastated by their loss, it’s the most stressful and emotional time in their lives as they struggle to relate to their friends, neighbours, the church, the press, and the police. David Tennant takes the role of DI Alec Hardy; an out-of-town, newly promoted police detective who takes the job local girl DS Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) believes should have been hers. Ellie has to find reserves of patience and toughness to negotiate a professional relationship with the difficult and unyielding Hardy. Yet as the drama progresses, Hardy’s own secrets are laid bare. Ellie is also emotionally involved with this case. Ellie’s son Tom (Adam Wilson) was the dead boy’s best friend and she’s known Danny all his young life. How could she not be drawn in? But Hardy’s clinical methods force Ellie to see the community she grew up in through a different prism. One by one the community of Broadchurch are drawn into the police enquiry. The village vicar Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill) tries to offer his support, but with press snooping, Broadchurch Echo junior reporter Olly Stevens (Jonathan Bailey) and editor Maggie Radcliffe (Carolyn Pickles), and particularly national newspaper journalist Karen White (Vicky McClure) who has come to Broadchurch with a special interest in DI Hardy, everyone is ill at ease. Hotelier Becca Fisher (Simone McAullay) and local business people are implicated as the effects of a death in the community begins to impact on their hard-earned livelihoods. Telephone engineer Steve Connelly (Will Mellor) finds himself in deep when he admits he has a special connection to the case. Pauline Quirke takes the role of Susan Wright, a suspicious and scruffy character who appears to observe the goings on in Broadchurch from afar. Susan lives in the local caravan park and has a lonely existence. There’s a sense she’s hiding something, but what could she possibly know about Danny’s demise? Broadchurch was commissioned for ITV by drama commissioning team, Laura Mackie and Sally Haynes. James Strong (United, Downton Abbey, Silent Witness, Doctor Who) and Euros Lyn (Torchwood, Doctor Who, Upstairs Downstairs, Sherlock) direct the series. Richard Stokes (Silk, Law & Order: UK, Torchwood) is the producer. Jane Featherstone (The Hour, Life on Mars, Law & Order: UK) and Chris Chibnall are the executive producers. *** Kudos Film and Television is the UK's most successful and original producer of popular, award-winning scripted television, supplying broadcasters domestically and internationally. Shows include the era-defining Spooks, Hustle, Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes; successful, returning series The Hour, Law & Order: UK and M.I. High and critically acclaimed mini-series and single films such as Occupation and We'll Take Manhattan. Current and forthcoming productions include Utopia (written by Dennis Kelly for Channel 4), Sky One's The Smoke (Lucy Kirkwood) and the Ben Court and Caroline Ip-penned Mayday (BBC One). In 2007, 2010 & 2011 Kudos was voted the UK's most admired independent production company by its peers in Broadcast magazine. Formed in 1992, it has been part of the Shine Group since 2007. An Introduction by writer and creator Chris Chibnall Broadchurch is a hybrid: a cocktail of stories. A drama about a community racked by grief and suspicion. A whodunnit, packed with suspects. A character-driven, emotional thriller, thick with twists and turns. When I was writing Law & Order:UK, I always used to worry for the victim’s relatives we would bring in for one scene: what happened to them when they left the screen. Broadchurch is, in part, an answer to that, a desire to honour those people more fully. It's also a love letter to the landscape of West Dorset, where I've lived for the best part of a decade. The landscape informs the drama: the cliffs, the sea, the beach are all key elements of the story. I've put dinosaurs on spaceships (on screen, not in life, that would be ridiculous), but nothing has given me the satisfaction of seeing the Jurassic Coast on screen in all weathers, all times of day, and night. Our cast and crew adored Dorset too -- especially in the high sun of early September. Oh, they loved me, then. At the end of November, at 2am on a cliff side battered by wind and sea-spray, less so. For me, the whole project has been a labour of love. I'd been ruminating on a big ensemble drama, exploring the way a death might impact on a community, for the best part of a decade. In 2011, after working with a US network, I was desperate to write an authored, uncompromised story set close to home. I wrote the first episode, on spec, just for myself: no company, no broadcaster. When it was written, I called ITV drama commissioner, Laura Mackie, from a Rome hotel (United, a film I wrote for BBC Two, was screening in the RomaFictionFest and I wanted to appear high class). I told her I had a new script, would she like to read it? Thankfully, she said yes. An early writing mentor of mine, Barrie Keeffe (exceptional playwright and screenwriter of The Long Good Friday), taught me the most crucial demand on any dramatist: "Write good parts for actors". One story, told throughout the series, gives actors more space to create complex, real people. I feel lucky and proud of these performances: led from the front by David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan, Vicky McClure, Arthur Darvill, Will Mellor, Pauline Quirke - sorry, couldn't stop typing. And in addition to the people you know, I hope you'll also love newer faces like Jonathan Bailey, Joe Sims, Matthew Gravelle, Charlotte Beaumont and Jacob Anderson. And none of them knew who the killer was. We made a decision early on: we wouldn't tell the actor(s) or actress(es) playing the person(s) responsible for Danny Latimer's death that they were the killer(s). (I know, the parentheses are annoying. They’re over now. Oh.) It added an extra level of intrigue to the production: the cast and crew started their own sweepstake, the make-up truck kept a rogues’ gallery of photofit pictures on their wall, with comments on the suspected motives for each character. David Tennant merrily harangued me in a location car park, "I'm annoyed you won't tell me and I think you're absolutely right not to!" We hope part of the joy of Broadchurch is the unfolding of the story. We've deliberately not put "Next Time" trailers at the end of each episode. We'll be keeping as much information to ourselves as we can. And we'd really, properly love it if you - the advance guard - would keep the secrets you discover along the way to yourselves, so the audience can experience them, unspoiled. Because this one is from the heart. And I hope these characters, and their stories, find a place in yours. Behind the scenes with Producer Richard Stokes Filming predominantly on location in the West Country provided high and low points for producer Richard Stokes and his team. “Filming on location is always a challenge. If you're in a studio you have control over the elements and everything is contained in one purpose built room. Step outside and you lose all that control. You can be affected by the weather, the environment and the public. However, the advantage of stepping outside is the look of authenticity. You can't build the Jurassic coastline in a studio, you have to go there and film within that space. And that's what we did. As a result we hopefully have a show that looks like the whole thing takes place in our fictional world of Broadchurch on the South Coast.