Early in 2011, inspired by a conversation that he’d had with
director James Strong towards the end of the United shoot, writer and Chris Chibnall started to write the first script
for a drama that would turn out to be a TV phenomena that gripped the nation.
Jump forward about 15 months and Chibnall’s project is about to come to
fruition, as the cast and crew of Broadchurch
meet at Bloomsbury
Baptist Church
It’s a nervous and exciting time for the entire cast, many
of whom are meeting for the first time. “Our first day of school,” says Vicky McClure,
while Olivia Colman describes the experience as terrifying - “I don’t like read
throughs. I find them very scary” – an emotion shared by Arthur Darvill, but Andrew Buchan just wants to get stuck in. A rain-dampened David Tennant reveals
how much he knows about the storyline: “Not a clue at the moment. It’s all to
be discovered”
It’s interesting to see the familiar faces that would come
to dominate our TV screens and capture our imaginations in such a position of
nervousness and curiosity, but what is very clear is that even at that stage
many of them were very sure that they were taking part in something very
special. It’s also fun to spot in the background the actors who would become so
important to us over the eight weeks that the series aired: Joe Sims (Nige
Carter), Matthew Gravelle (Joe Miller) and Carolyn Pickles (Maggie Radcliffe) all
drift through in the background during the read through and the on-set footage.
We’re treated to interviews and comments from cast and crew
aplenty. Andrew Buchan gives his ‘honest’ opinion of his fellow cast members,
Vicky McClure and Jonathan Bailey muse on the possibility that Karen might be
the killer, Jodie Whittaker explains the importance of staying entertained between
takes and David Tennant and Olivia Colman are like a double act, bouncing character
descriptions and accusations of murder and camp performances off one another.
The actors express their joy of filming in Dorset ,
even in the torrential rain, and discuss how difficult it can be to convey credibly
the levels of emotion experienced by
their characters. Producer Richard Stokes illustrates the wisdom of having a
plan B – and more – when an exterior scene is rained off and they have to come
up with an alternative solution quite quickly.
At the time of filming the documentary, the cast still had
no idea who the killer was and how the remainder of the drama was going to
unfold. However, they were as captivated during production as viewers were while
watching and anticipated even then that audiences would be hooked. Pauline Quirke
makes an uncannily accurate prediction:” It’s certainly going to be a drama
that you wouldn't want to miss many episodes…once you start with it you've got
to stick with it because it’s so intriguing,” she says, “It’s going to be really good telly”
There’s no arguing with that.
Broadchurch is released on DVD on Monday 20th May. Order your copy here
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