‘People are in for a very nasty ride’: Andrew Buchan on the mysteries of Broadchurch

Is anyone innocent in Broadchurch and what’s with the hi-vis? Alastair McKay interrogates Danny Latimer’s dad, actor Andrew Buchan
Cliff-hanger: the Broadchurch cast (Picture: ITV/Kudos)
Alastair McKay12 January 2015

Just when you thought it was safe to fall from a cliff on the Jurassic Coast of Dorset, Broadchurch is back. Eight million viewers watched the first episode of the second series last Monday, set in the picturesque but oddly terrifying seaside town where DI Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and DS Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) are still beached in the aftermath of the murder mystery that tore the community apart (and won three Baftas).

The second series appears to have taken an ingenious left-turn, with the killer pleading not guilty and triggering a high-powered legal battle between two feisty QCs with chess-related surnames: Jocelyn Knight, played by Charlotte Rampling, and Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). But Hardy’s past also seems to have caught up with him. It turns out that the reason he was in Broadchurch in the first place was to offer protection to a witness from a previous case (the Sandbrook case, which hung over the first series like a recurring migraine). Were the two cases linked in other ways? There is some suggestion that they were but Broadchurch, remember, is a place where guilt and innocence are tidal.

To try and unpick some of the mysteries of Broadchurch, I spoke to actor Andrew Buchan, who plays Mark Latimer, father of murdered 11-year-old Danny. (Broadchurch fans will appreciate that Mark didn’t always give a straight answer to a straight question, a trait shared by the actor.)

A Broadchurch appeal

Andrew Buchan: “Quite apart from the script and the actors, I think it’s got quite good production values. If I’m honest I was mildly surprised by that when I watched the first series. I thought, ‘Wow, this music [by Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds] is incredible and it’s been put together in a way that I didn’t expect. But the thing that drew me to it initially was definitely the character. I’ve never played a part like this before. There’s no shying away from any element of emotion along the journey, and that did make me quite afraid. But sometimes it’s good to walk towards your fears.”

In Broadchurch no one is innocent

“Everyone is under the microscope. It’s a small town, everybody knows each other, there’s just no escape, really, from people finding out the truth. The beauty of [series creator] Chris Chibnall’s writing is that there are so many open ends that the audience can go off at whatever tangent they want.”

In series one, even the cast didn’t know whodunnit

“There are a few hours during the night in question that I’m unaccounted for. We were filming episode seven of series one and we still didn’t know. So I thought, in the back of my head, I know Becca Fisher has dropped me off at the car park at around one in the morning but apparently I don’t get home till three or four. So what am I doing in a small town until then? I did think it might be me. David Tennant’s character points out that there’s a huge hole in Mark Latimer’s story when he’s not accounted for. I certainly didn’t rule myself out.”

The new series is just as gripping

“I thought David and Olivia on Monday night were pretty sensational. The toilet scene… [a tearful, comic scene where the emotionally remote Tennant offers to hug Colman]. I texted Olivia this morning, I said I think it’s one of the best bits of television in many a while. I was flabbergasted by that. Obviously you see it at the read-through but I had no idea how they were going to do it. I just thought it was unbelievable the way they did it. Olivia in front of the psychiatrist as well, I thought: wow! There’s something pretty special going on there.”

New action: Andrew Buchan who plays Mark Latimer, father of the murdered boy (Picture: ITV/Kudos)

It might be turning into a courtroom drama, with the backdrop of a previous case intruding. Maybe

“Oh, I’ve no idea,” says Buchan. “I can’t remember. My memory’s not what it was. I’m 35 now. All I can say is that people are in for a very unpleasant ride. Chibnall is not one to make life easy. He wants to push you to the very edge.”

To complain about David Tennant mumbling is to miss the point

“I didn’t notice that in any way, shape or form. Tennant’s off the scale. He’s a wonderful, wonderful actor. Anyone homing in on that is missing the point or missing the story. They were extraordinary on Monday night.”

There might be a lesbian subtext

“I don’t know if there is. I can’t remember. But good question.”

Working on Broadchurch was different to The Honourable Woman (where Buchan played Ephra Stein)

“There was a very different ambience on each set. Both had very intelligent, focused people at the helm. The Honourable Woman seemed to be exceptionally taut and very high stakes the entire time. But on Broadchurch I know Jodie (Whittaker) and Olivia and David very well, and we do like to have a laugh. Doing the second series of Broadchurch was like putting an old pair of shoes back on. You’ve lived the entire first series, you’ve seen the reaction to it, and there’s something about walking back into that house that genuinely feels like your old house, and like a child had passed away there. In that sense there was very little acting required. Everything still felt very real.”

There are rumours that Broadchurch was conceived as a trilogy. They might be true

“I’ve heard something from somebody who was in no way connected to the programme, and I thought: you’ve just invented that. But I’m certainly not aware of it. I know that Chris definitely had two in mind. After series one I had people approaching me going, ‘That’s ridiculous, what else are they going to do? Is there going to be another murder in a small town? There can’t be another one.’ Even after episode one, I think people will realise, ah, this is the direction it’s going in.”

You can’t watch series two without seeing series one

“That would be pointless. An element of it is obviously Sandbrook, and that in itself is a fresh story, but it would help you enormously to see season one. There are so many clues, so many details, so many character traits, so many character flaws, so many bits and shreds of evidence that people need to soak up before diving into season two. It’ll make season two all the richer.”

The argument in series one involving the postman in the hi-vis jacket is said by some to contain a clue to the second series

“I could be aware of that. I’ll have to check with myself later. Watch out for the hi-vis moment. I’d just urge viewers to stick with it. Week after week it’ll get more unpleasant as it goes. Even at the read-through, we turned up in our brightly coloured sweaters and everyone’s all fresh-faced — it’s been 18 months since season one and everyone’s happy to see each other and then Chris, the writer, turns to us all and says, ‘Yeah, it’s not going to be nice for any of you, really’! And then you realise, ‘Ah, we’re back in Broadchurch.’”

Broadchurch is on ITV tonight at 9pm

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