INTERVIEW: Chris Chibnall's Broadchurch Postmortem - "David Tennant And Olivia Colman Are Just Two Of The Best Actors In The World"

Entertainment Weekly have released a very comprehensive interview with Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall following the US finale last night on BBC America.

Chris Chibnall has started work on the second series of Broadchurch for ITV in the UK. He has also written the first episode for Fox for the US adaptation and will be acting as executive producer on the American version. He discusses both new productions in the interview, along with his reasons for his choice of actor for the killer, how he came to the decision of who the killer would be and how their identity would be reveled, the clues we may have missed and the quality of his cast.

Be warned that the interview contains major spoilers for the series, revealing the killer's name from the start, so do not click through if you have not yet watched the final episode.

Read the full interview here

Read some spoiler free extracts below:

On the long tracking shot which leads up to the final reveal:
"I think normally with the reveal, you have to do it verbally. The tradition, particularly in old-school British detective things, is everybody’s in the drawing room or the library, and they’re all gathered, and the detective walks around and tells them where they were that night, and you see the flashbacks. And I really didn’t want to do that. So I knew it had to be something incredibly visual and cinematic. I wanted to slow time down just at the moment when you would expect it to speeding up toward a resolution. What I wanted to do — which is what I wanted to do with the whole show — is place you in the drama and get you as close to experiencing what it would be like as possible. That’s why we’re on Hardy’s shoulder for that walk. I knew how I’d reveal it very early… And I wanted it to mirror, as well, the very first Steadicam shot in episode 1 when Mark [Andrew Buchan] walks down the street and meets everyone in one long Steadicam shot. I wanted the resolution to come through something similar. James [Strong, director] and I talked about that a lot — we had to do something that was hopefully slightly different. Screaming at the television was exactly what I hoped would happen."

On the lead actors:

“…to state the obvious, David Tennant and Olivia Colman are just two of the best actors in the world. They are just extraordinary. “

On his progress preparing for the second series

“Literally, as I stand here talking to you now, I am standing one foot away … in front of the board which has the whole of the first episode plotted out on it. Every single bit of the first episode, I’m looking at now… And that’s all I’m gonna tell you. (Laughs) But there are numerous whiteboards. We know what we’re doing. And I’m really excited about it. For people who are wondering, I promise we have interesting stories still to tell.”

On the American version:

I’ve written the first episode and I’ll be an executive producer on it. There’s a whole team coming into place on that, and Fox will decide whether they go forward with it. But we’re very excited about it. I think there’s a really great opportunity to make something that is hopefully as good if not better than the British version. I’m very, very fascinated to see this story in a different landscape with an acting ensemble that’s just as strong but taken from really great American actors. The DNA of the original is absolutely intact and filtered through a new prism, so it should still feel just as vibrant, and interesting, and strange, and unique, and beautiful, but just in a different setting — and then it’s exploring the dramatic opportunities that that offers up. We’re not gonna do the terrible version. We’re gonna do a great version.

It is believed that production of the second series of Broadchurch will begin in spring 2014. The cast has not yet been announced although Olivia Colman, Arthur Darvill and Simone McAullay have all said that they have been asked to return in some capacity.

Fox begin production of the American remake in early 2014. No cast has been announced so far.

Read more about Broadchurch on our website