"David Is So Versatile": Chris Chibnall Praises Broadchurch Cast And Location




Chris Chibnall has spoken of his anxious wait for the reaction to the world premiere screening of the first episode of Broadchurch in Bridport earlier this week.

The West Bay area of the Dorset town provided a stunning backdrop for coastal scenes in the new eight-part ITV drama, and series writer and executive producer Chibnall, himself a resident, arranged the screening as a thank you to local people for putting up with filming during late summer and autumn last year. He was “excited and terrified at the same time” waiting for first reactions.

He spoke to Bridport News about his reasons for setting his new drama in the area. He said:
“It is an extraordinary landscape and I thought it would be a fantastic thing to capture it on film and showcase it. Then I started to think about what sort of story might be interesting and I thought about a small community and what it’s like living in one. We see a lot of dramas set in cities but very few in small towns, which is strange because most of us live in towns. I wanted to explore that.”

Broadchurch examines the effect on a small close-knit community of the death of a child under suspicious circumstances and the subsequent scrutiny by both the police and the press. David Tennant and Olivia Colman star as investigating officers DI Alec Hardy and DS Ellie Miller. Also appearing are Andrew Buchan, Jodie Whittaker, Vicky McClure, Arthur Darvill, Pauline Quirke and Will Mellor. Chris Chibnall said of his cast:
 “The cast is great, a really good team of actors and I am delighted they are all on board.
“Olivia Colman is the best actress in the country, I can’t say enough good things about her, and Jodie is just wonderful too. The same with David, he is so versatile and it is great to see him doing something different.
 “They all loved it down here. We had a week of beautiful, sunny filming in September and they all fell in love with the place. It was a bit different in November though when they were on a cliff at 2am in the pouring rain and a howling gale!”

Broadchurch begins on ITV in March. Look out for the first dedicated trailer on Sunday night on ITV following Mr. Selfridge, and see if you can spot any posters in your area from next Monday.

 Source: Bridport News





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