'Broadchurch' Postmortem: Inside Hardy's Surgery and Mark's Testimony

Spoiler alert! The sixth episode of Broadchurch’s second season saw Hardy (David Tennant) go under the knife, Ellie (Olivia Colman) tell Tom (Adam Wilson) he was coming home, Mark (Andrew Buchan) testify, and the reveal that Claire (Eve Myles) is the one who stole Pippa’s necklace from Hardy’s wife’s car.

Below, we continue our weekly debriefings with Broadchurch executive producer Jane Featherstone.

Related: ‘Broadchurch’ Postmortem: Inside the Fair and the Furnace

Hardy made it through his pacemarker surgery and then texted Ellie, which was hilarious. It’s interesting to have the surgery in episode 6. How was that decision made?
That was a very early decision, funnily enough. [Creator] Chris [Chibnall] had decided that Hardy was going to have his heart condition in Series 1, and then when Series 2 started, we were sitting around talking about it and said, “God, what if he actually had to have a operation in the middle of the court case, wouldn’t that be brilliant?” [Laughs.] Of course, he wouldn’t tell anyone. He would just go off and do it, and a pacemaker is something that you can have fitted quite quickly and then go back to work fairly soon after. I mean, obviously we’re slighting pushing it, but you can do that.

So it’s just a great moment. He walks out of the court, into the hospital. You have that wonderful sequence of is he going to make it or not, which I think is a brilliant visual moment in the series — very dynamic — and then, in true Broadchurch style, ends with a bit of a joke when he texts Ellie, “I just had an operation, I’m in the history.” “You’re what?” It’s also lovely when his ex-wife comes in. “I’ve got this” is a great little moment. Not that there is any romantic thing, and I don’t think she thinks there is. For me, it’s always that Tess is just aware that he’s moved on and that he has new friends and new colleagues, and she was his police partner and now she isn’t. I think it’s a complex set of emotions, but I love that sequence.

I loved the conversation that Hardy had with Tess once they got back to his place, and then when he echoed his daughter’s sentiment on the phone — no more broken heart.
That’s one of those things, a bit like the toilet scene that we discussed in episode 1, that I don’t think changed from the first draft. I remember reading that scene the first time and just going, “Oh, that’s so moving,” and I think its power comes from not having had too much of his personal life. You’ve had it very sparingly over the episodes and suddenly, you’re given a minute and a half of who he really is, and beneath all of that, and I think it’s fascinating for that. I think it’s such an intimate family moment, really. Great writing and great acting.

Related: 'Broadchurch’ Postmortem: Inside the Trip to Sandbrook and That Surprise Return

How does this affect Hardy? He already looks healthier, has more color in his face.
You’ll see in future episodes that he gets some strength from this new heart. He feels reborn in some way, and he has reconnected with his wife, and he is closer to solving this case. It’s not there yet, but I think there’s a real positive energy about him now, and it’s a new lease on life. It’s interesting to see what that energy will do, where can he take that.

I wanted to touch on the scene where Ellie finally yells at Tom and tells him that he’s coming home.
One of my favorites. Absolutely.

There’s a look on Tom’s face, almost like he seems happy that she’s back in control when she says they’re going to reclaim their lives and home. How important was that moment?
I think that was crucial, and picking the moment when that happened was hard. We were talking endlessly about at what stage would she step in because she wants to choose the right moment to get him back and not push him further away. She understands why he feels like this. She feels guilt herself and she feels responsible, but I think this was finally the right moment, and it’s such a powerful, brilliant performance from Olivia. I just think it’s an incredible moment and Adam as well is just brilliant in it. I think what’s so great about it is because it’s public. It just gives everyone this shiver. “I’m your bloody mother,” is just so great. It makes me cry when I think about it — you’re punching the air for her. Then when they go home and “we’re going to be a family again” — you need that because you can’t keep having Ellie on the back foot and under pressure and feeling like she’s losing. She’s got to start winning again here, I think.

Mark testified in this episode, and Beth learned he was writing a letter saying he was leaving her. It was another brutal scene to watch — the idea of him being so close to where his son was murdered.
You want to complicate the lives of the people in the present in dramatic terms. So I think it’s extraordinary that he chooses to testify when actually, it would have been easier, in some ways, not to go on the stand in that way. But he wanted to do that because he needed to put the record straight, knowing that what he’s got to say will perhaps exonerate him in some way, but will potentially destroy his marriage. But he’s doing that because he needs justice, and that’s a very powerful decision for a father to make, I think. But it’s a massive turning point for him and Beth. Can they recover from that? What does that actually mean for them?

That’s also, I think, part of Chris’ mission to do something about putting the family on trial, in a sense. Was it about seeing what havoc the trial could wreak on their lives and how destructive it can be — because that’s not something that needs to be made public, but it does [become public] because they’re on trial because Joe pleaded not guilty. Andrew Buchan does a wonderful performance in that scene.

Ellie saw that Claire had a photo of her wearing Pippa’s necklace, and we the audience saw Claire burn the photo and a flashback to her stealing it from Tess’ car. Chris decided very early on that the necklace would be a key to the Sandbrook case?
Back in Season 1, there was the talk of the pendant. You remember in episode 2, the proposed psychic came in and mentioned the pendant, and that’s kind of a big moment for Hardy at that point, and he has the photo in his wallet of the little girl, which turns out is Pippa with the pendant. That has always been, for Chris, a crucial piece of evidence and a crucial emblem for Hardy of his failure because had he had that… What’s so great about that is, obviously that was connected to his relationship with his wife, and he feels responsibility and guilt that he had potentially driven his wife away. She was having an affair, and while she was having an affair, this thing was nicked from her car. So he’s connected to all of that, and that guilt is being carried with him. It feels like such a surprising thing when you find out the truth of where the pendant came from.