Broadchurch
A TV miniseries called Broadchurch drew much praise when it ran
on the BBC last year. When I read the Guardian
critic’s comments on it I made a note to watch for the DVD. It arrived recently
at my friendly neighbourhood video rental place, so I rented the 3 DVDs on
which it’s recorded and spent last weekend’s evenings watching it. That’s about 8 hours of TV time, considerably
more than I usually look at in a week. It
is a measure of the power of this drama that it held me glued to the screen for
more than 4 hours on two successive evenings.
On the face of it, Broadchurch is a murder mystery, but I
described it as a drama, which it emphatically is. It is set in the fictional
small town of Broadchurch on the south coast of England, in Dorset. The town
and its people are opened up and explored with detached compassion, their
foibles and weaknesses exposed like peeling away layers of clothing until the
naked soul is revealed in all its beauty and ugliness. An 11-year-old boy’s
body is found on the beach near the base of a dangerous cliff, but the position
of his body has been arranged and autopsy reveals that the cause of death was
strangulation. A woman detective who thought she was about to become the local
chief detective but is passed over for a more experienced but damaged man are
in charge of the investigation, and their initially tense relationship is one
of several sub-plots. The investigation
soon becomes convoluted with false leads and trails that point towards first
one, then another suspect perpetrator. One false trail leads to the news agent
for whom the murdered boy delivered newspapers, and leads ultimately to the
suicide of this tragic figure. It would spoil one of the subplots to say more
than this. The families of the murder victim, the woman detective, and other important characters are portrayed in three dimensions
more believably than almost anything I’ve seen before on television. This drama
is that rare event, television for intelligent grown-ups. Everyone who thinks
they belong in this category should take the time – 8 hours, give or take a few
minutes – to watch this drama.
It will haunt me for quite a
while, and I predict that it will haunt you too.
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