TV Review: Broadchurch

"People are unknowable. You can never really know what goes on inside someone else's heart."

This eight-part series is yet another brilliant whodunnit mystery as the lives of people in Broadchurch are turned upside-down after the death of local boy Danny Latimer. Unlike various other crime programs, Broadchurch did not only focus primarily on the police investigation, as we were also able to explore the grief and emotional trauma experienced by the victim's family, the role and perspective of the media, and the consequences of these elements intermingling.

image from here but damn yo look at all these suspicious faces

The exploration of grief and how to deal with death is portrayed through multiple perspectives - the family, friends, detectives, journalists, and complete strangers - each bringing something different to this overarching theme of the series. This was expressed through some phenomenal acting and, at times, I was overwhelmed by the emotional performances - honourable mention to Olivia Colman. The space of eight episodes also gave ample time to not only delve into these feelings but also the backstories and motivations of the characters involved.

I thought the inclusion of the media's perspective was not only fascinating to watch but also a smart move on behalf of the writers. So often we are given a one-sided view of the impact of the media: journalist writes something and the police get angry. In Broadchurch, we were able to watch the media spiral into a frenzy and through other characters we were able to view the impact and the consequences of articles that spread damaging information about people. It was also interesting that they mentioned only featuring "attractive" families that had been victim to a crime - a disappointing truth about our society indeed.

While I would recommend this program to anyone interested in crime drama this is not to say the program is without flaws. Despite the pacing of episodes being excellent in conveying grief and emotion with various scenes involving music/crying/staring out to sea, I suspect there were probably a few people that lost interest due this fact AND that this series was revolving around one murder that was going to be aired over eight whole weeks. There are also a few things that some characters do that appears a bit out of place or just downright odd. But to me it was worth it. I loved every second of it and was forever wanting the next episode to air and to know more about the characters in this little community. I was often left thinking about the episode long after it had finished. So, if you're looking for a interesting crime drama with excellent acting and writing (and desire the need to fling your heart into the sun) then I would recommend checking out Broadchurch.

Let me know what you think in the comments below or tweet me @faultystairs :)