Yahoo News Broadchurch stars feared they'd be killed off
There's quite a bit riding on the third and final series of Broadchurch. Not only do the concluding eight episodes of ITV's crime thriller have to round off the stories of DI Alec Hardy (David Tennant), DS Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) and other returnees, they also have to prove that the show's still got it after 2015's divisive follow-up to 2013's universally adored original.
"I think the backlash was inevitable, that's just what happens," Tennant tells press including Digital Spy, during a break in filming back in August 2016. "I don't think it was necessarily justified, but I understand why it happened."
The good news is that, whatever you thought of the second series, Broadchurch is on impressive form as its swansong begins. "I don't think there's any complacency from any department," Tennant says, while series producer Dan Winch suggests that there's a "simplicity" to series three's storytelling that recalls that of the first.
"I think that's what the audience particularly loved about series one... there was a very simple approach to what we did," he says. "It allows you to enjoy the wonderful landscape, the characters, the humour and the emotions in a way that you might not be able to if the plot was more complex."
So while series two had a split narrative – dividing its attentions between an old case of Hardy's and the aftermath of series one's murder mystery, with Ellie Miller's killer husband on trial – the new episodes will again follow a single investigation.
"I quite like going back to the whodunnit, I have to say," enthuses Colman, while Tennant admits that there's a certain buzz on set with Broadchurch returning to the formula that made it a hit.
"In series two, we had a slightly different structure, but series one was very much a whodunnit and in a way, in a slightly different sense, so is this series.
"It does become the topic of conversation through all moments of downtime – for everyone, because everyone's intrigued. I suppose that's a good sign. That was certainly the case in series one, too."
But the new Broadchurch isn't just a carbon copy of the original. Rather than rehashing another murder plot, the latest series explores a serious sexual assault, a sensitive subject meticulously researched by writer Chris Chibnall and the cast with help from Rape Crisis England & Wales, and The Survivors Trust.
"It's quite brutal," Tennant admits. "One of the things we found out is that a stranger rape – which is what, initially at least, this seems to be – is fantastically rare. So it's entirely accurate that a town like Broadchurch would've never seen a crime like this before.
"The central thrust of the story involves all these new characters, and us sniffing around them all, although some of the old characters are very cleverly mixed into that too."
Besides Hardy and Miller, long-suffering husband and wife Beth and Mark Latimer (Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan) are also back, along with dependable vicar Paul Coates (Arthur Darvill) and a few more familiar faces.
But they're joined by a new ensemble, "probably about 20 odd new characters," says producer Winch. "...all of which we've carefully cast to make sure they feel part of the Broadchurch community."
"Julie Hesmondhalgh, who plays the central character in this, is heartbreaking," Colman says of the ex-Coronation Street actress, cast as rape survivor Trish Winterman. "And I was excited watching Charlie Higson [playing schoolteacher Ian], 'cause I grew up laughing at him and to sit opposite him being... just brilliant. It was a masterclass.
"Then Lenny [Henry] who we all know as the nation's darling... he's a bit socially inept in this, [as suspicious shopkeeper Ed], which is just brilliant."
Murdered By My Boyfriend star and BAFTA winner Georgina Campbell is also on board as prickly Detective Constable Katie Harford. "Over the two series, Hardy and Miller got to know each other – they're in sync," Campbell explains. "Now Katie's coming in and disrupting that.
"There's this big gap between the knowledge they have and the knowledge she has, but she's got this young, spunky attitude of, 'I know everything' – that youthful arrogance, that means that they butt heads a lot."
"In a sense, she gets the ire that I used to direct at Miller!" Tennant grins. "She's new and a bit naive, a bit cocky. She does start to get on our good side, but almost inevitably that's going to go wrong!"
With so many characters, new and old, there's a whole lot of pieces to fit into place, but Winch is confident that the end of Broadchurch will provide fans who've been watching for four years with "good closure".
"We were only ever going to do one and then when the idea came to do more, it was presented as 'Let's do another two and then walk away' so it's not really been a shock," Tennant says of wrapping up the series as a whole.
"I think it seems right," Colman suggests. "The whole point [with the first series] was that a terrible thing had happened in a beautiful place, a place where things like this don't happen. If you get to series 10, it's hard to believe that anymore.
"It's a lovely job, I'd happily do it every couple of years. But I think ending it is the right thing to do."
Alas, having filmed just five of the total eight episodes when we speak, Tennant and Colman can't shed much light on how things will pan out for Hardy and Miller – they don't know themselves.
"It depends how annoyed Chris is with us – he might kill us off," giggles Colman. "He's very certain that it's the last series, isn't he?" Tennant agrees. "Which does make you wonder if there's some kind of terminal full-stop." "Yes..." his co-star responds. "...to make sure they can't ask him to bring it back!"
Broadchurch returns to ITV on Monday (February 27) at 9pm.
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