I have come to this conclusion after reading some of the comments here criticizing every aspect of the show.
I enjoyed every episode of Broadchurch and rank it up there with some of the best British detective series and we've watched them all.
The storyline, the script, the casting (with the possible exception of David Tennant's beard although his performance was exemplary) and the resolution were all very satisfying.
I hope some of the critics here write and produce a series so the rest of us can see how it should be done.
Broadchurch is one of the best shows I have seen and I've seen most of the dramas on Netflix. I loved the Killing, Happy Valley, Luther, Red Road and Prison Break. Broadchurch is the type of show I enjoy because all the episodes are part of one crime rather than a new crime on each episode.
I am thinking about watching the Fall but don't like a lot of sex scenes so I am thinking about it.
I also enjoyed every episode of Broadchurch and just watched multiple episodes a sitting. Just can't understand how this show can disappoint - unless you enjoy a one episode, one crime, one finale series.
Julie 30: I think most us on this board enjoyed it and my original comment was (at least partially) tongue-in-cheek. Message boards always attract "provocative" posters looking for attention and that alright. Overall these message boards are among the best and most useful on the internet.
I agree that the first season was better than the second but I enjoyed both. The second season was, at times, a bit melodramatic but many of the episodes were very good IMLTHO.
I didn't think of the courtroom scenes as being laughable. Perhaps you could give us an example. If you mean unrealistic that's true of most TV courtroom scenes. No judge would allow most of what goes on in TV courtroom scenes. But that's fiction for you. If they followed reality too closely no one would watch.
As Hitchcock said, "movies are just like real life with all the boring parts cut out."
For me the reason I didn't like the second season as much was because of the courtroom scenes, because they were very unrealistic. So much of what happened would not fly in a real court room. But I did still enjoy season 2. And like you said, most of what happens in court on TV shows wouldn't be allowed in real life, not just some of the stuff that happened in Broadchurch.
Once upon a time there was a magical place where it never rained. The end.
I'm a litigation paralegal. I find most courtroom scenes laughable!
I don't remember specifics about this (it's been over a year since I watched the show), but I do remember not liking series 2 as much as I liked series 1.
I just finished watching the last episode of season 2. And I too found the second season especially to be melodramatic, to where it seemed we were watching a soap opera. The wife agreed.
I was talking with a trial lawyer the other day--she practices in Florida, but I assume the situation is the same or similar in the UK--and she was saying that lawyers on both sides know what witnesses are going to say on the stand. She said, "no exceptions". She has been practicing for 30 years.
Granted that she may have been engaging in a bit of hyperbole, but--in Broadchurch, EVERY SINGLE WITNESS gives testimony that surprises either the prosecution or the defense, frequently both.
I had a hard time taking a lot of it seriously, and at least half-regret watching the entire thing. YMMV of course.
Frank Pierce: Taking credit when things go right doesn't work the other way.
Fully agree, loved season 1 and i just started watching season 2. Just finished watching the episode 2, at the end, the scene where Claire takes off with her ex. Sorry, but it becoming more and more cliche, like american soap operas, i can't continue watching. Plus, the courtroom arguments are beyond idiotic most of the time. Just watched a few scenes from ep3 and i might be wrong with my conclusion, but is the defender implying that Miller's son computer was intentionally used by his mother to plant proof against her husband? Is that really what she's trying to say? *beep* hell ................
To be honest, episodes 2 and 3 were the weakest in series 2. Once you get to the end of episode 3, then it really improves, IMO.
Yes, the tactic of the defense is to come up with several alternate scenarios in which someone other than Joe Miller killed Danny. And one of her tactics is to cast shade on Ellie, implying that she framed Joe for the murder to end her marriage.
Episodes 5 and 6 were my favourites of the series.
Well, mparker25889 I'm glad I'm not alone and I think there are a lot lot who would agree with us. I like you enjoy British detective shows and I try to watch any that come along.
Here's a partial list of the shows I like:
DCI Banks Death in Paradise Poirot Miss Marple Lord Peter Wimsey Vera Single Handed Zen Wallenger Judge John Deed Inspector George Gently New Tricks Maigret Luther Bletchley Circle Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Ruth Rendel Mysteries Father Brown The Last Detective Smiley’s People The Perfect Spy (John Lecarre) The Black Tower (PD James) The Oxford Murders Inspector Morse Foyle’s War Cracker Endeavour Inspector Lewis Inspector Lynley Midsomer Murders Prime Suspect Ripper Street Scott and Bailey Silks Jericho Broadchurch Top of the Lake Hinterland The Fall
Thank you so much for your list of shows. I loved Luther, Hinterland, Top of the Lake, Wallander.
Netflix has a lot of them. I wanted to watch The Fall but it seems like there is too much sex (as per the Parent Advisory on IMDB). Same with Ripper Street.
I will give Death in Paradise a look.
And I loved all the courtroom scenes in Season 2 of Broadchurch and loved Charlotte Rampling (who I remember from Georgy Girl).
I started Murdoch Mysteries (Canadian) and enjoy it but like I said I like more episodes per murder.
Hi mparker, Another one I enjoyed was a British 3-part story called The Guilty, from 2013. It follows the attempt to solve a single crime, and doesn't involve graphic violence or any sex. I was first drawn to it because it stars Tamsin Greig (the woman who owned the gift shop next door in the comedy series Black Books), this time in a dramatic role. It's reminiscent of Broadchurch, and yeah it's not quite as good, but I still thought it as worth a watch.
You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.+
I love all those same shows!! Have you watched Damages, Secrets and lies (Aussie version), Top of the Lake, The Practice, The Missing, The Good Wife, The Americans, Orphan Black... Just a few others I've enjoyed... Embarrassing that I've watched all of those;)
The Fall is along those lines but it wasn't my fav, kinda on the slower side... Sex scenes I remember being More on the violent side, like showing the actual crime... Don't remember exactly.
I think you could definitely skip it and be just fine.
Oh and Wentworth! It's an Australian show about a womens prison. It's great, not a comedy. I think you'd really enjoy it! I'll probably think of several more but I'll try to spare you.
The Fall is much better than Broadchurch.I think Broadchurch was overhyped. I wouldn't say there's alot of sex scenes in The Fall but a number of women come to a bad end.Can I also say don't be put off cos Jamie Dornan is in this, he's great as a serial killer.
I have ever only felt this way about one other show and that is The Wire. I love a lot of shows but this one was something special. I watched all sixteen episodes in two days so I wasn't disappointed in season two but I also didn't have to wait. The acting was outstanding.
English is my first language, I am just illiterate.
I enjoyed both series and it was largely due to the cast, particularly Olivia and David. Even though there are other shows that are similar in plot or feel to Broadchurch 1, it is the actors who really set it apart.
I have also had some great discussions on this board with people who disagree with me about both series, but as long as the discussion was thoughtful, it was great.
The trolls are a huge drag -- some starting some really childish arguments and topic threads. Unfortunately every show seems to be plagued with them.
Like you, I've been paying attention to other show suggestions and have spent much of 2015 watching the suggested shows on DVDs from the library. So thanks to all who have given thoughtful feedback and further show suggestions.
I agree with you although I liked the entire cast the leads were, I thought, outstanding. Having said that I should add a special note about Andrew Buchan. He really was, as always, excellent. His mini-series, Garrow's Law ( with one of my all-time favorites, Alun Armstrong) was really wonderful. If you haven't seen it it might be worth looking into.
And, yes, again the troll problem on message boards is a problem although this particular set of boards probably has the least. The best way to deal with them is to simply ignore them but its not always possible.
It's just the internet mate. No matter how good something is, there will always be a loud chorus of trolls and haters shouting how awful it is. Generally speaking, it is people with emotional problems finding an outlet for their awkward sociability. It's a shame the net has provided an environmental for these types to flourish globally.
This is the truth. As I said before I don't mind a rational disagreement but these sad people who usually do little or nothing themselves are the great "critics." Usually these are people who would never say anything face to face but from the safety of anonymity can rant and rave. Sad, really.
These boards have the least of those sorts happily.
And there will always be the fanboys who label everyone as a troll who shows even just a hint of taste and intelligence... See, this works into both directions.
Broadchurch had an incredibly compelling first season. This turned out to be a bit of a curse for the second season, which as it seems was not planned when writing the first. The idea of the village with the different suspects, each of them with their own little dark secrets they try to protect, was not replaced by anything meaningful. Instead we got some semi-interesting case which got its rather obvious 180 degree turn at the end but before than stretched like chweing gum, because it never got closer to the audience than the first case in court, which itselt unfortuatly got watered down by that totally uninteresting lawyer plot. On its own the second season might have been okay, but in direct comparison to the first, it was all over the place and stayed well behing the audiences' expectations. But, yes, of course that is just the internet...
You must understand that IMDB is a place where people come to splash their frustration the same as they come to post, when they enjoy the show - unlike on fan forums or official sites, where mainly fans appear. Here often appear also people, who do not connect to one or another show.
I find it a good show. Much better than majority of recent mainstream shows coming from US, but then again Broadchurch has different format than majority of 'monster of the week' typed 45 min lasting detective shows. This tells a story during whole season, its bound to tick different people differently.
As for the beard. I hated it. I dislike the kind of beard on any man/actor and when detective with that beard would come to question I'd think he's jesting me and isn't even one at a job. he always came across like someone living on the streets. And all this due to the beard. And I agree, the actor himself played the part fine, but the visual look due to the beard - oeeeeh.
I agree I thought this show (1st season specifically) was brilliant, especially the cast. Olivia Colman and David Tennant were really impressive throughout and although the red herrings got a little too much at times I'll admit the writing kept me invested at all times.
The show set its bar high with the first season, which displayed a set of characters in a smart way, caring for each, and while following a classic crime novel case structure (suspect, investigation, new hint, different suspect) in a limited setting in a rather fresh way. The second season failed to build upon that. On the one hand it tried add another rotation on the first bit, shifting around once more each of the painful ministories which made the first season so great. Which felt like exactly that one twist too many which the first season masterfully avoided. Where the first season made it clear that with all the downsides, each character had some human center, the second lifted that to some kind of navelgazing: look what we can do... This took away from a case which essentially consisted of a handful of unlikable people, who acted out a steady forth and back, which felt more like bubblegum than actual twists. The attempt to have more of everything and to even go into the attorney's story, which was totally disconnected from everything and felt like a hamfisted attempt to get some "depth" into a drama which was not very well thought through. I liked Coleman's and Tennent's parts, and had the show focussed on those and a new case, instead of trying to be everything at once, the second season could have been on par with the first one. But the way it played out, a rather mediocre second season pales in the quality of an outstanding first.
I just finished watching "Marcella", "Mare of Easttown", and "Broadchurch", in that order. I liked the first two, but "Broadchurch" stood out as possibly the best detective drama I've seen. I only wish they had gone on and done a fourth season.