'Broadchurch' Postmortem: Producer on Solving Sandbrook and That Verdict

Spoiler alert! The Season 2 finale of Broadchurch revealed the verdict in Joe’s murder trial and solved the Sandbrook whodunit.

Joe (Matthew Gravelle) was found not guilty, and though he wanted to return to Broadchurch, Ellie (OIivia Colman) and Beth (Jodie Whittaker) informed him that he was being banished — never to see his children again. Read what Gravelle had to say about filming Joe’s exit here.

Hardy (David Tennant) finally closed the Sandbrook case: While Lee (James D'Arcy) punched Lisa’s stalker, Gary Thorp, on the street, Lisa and her cousin Pippa came over to his house to feel safe. Pippa went upstairs to sleep, and Lee had sex with Lisa — which her uncle Ricky (Shaun Dooley) watched from the window before rushing inside. Lisa called Ricky out on ogling her, and he knocked her down and slammed her head into the floor. Pippa overheard the sex, fight, and her father claiming Lee had killed Lisa.

Ricky suggested Claire (Eve Myles), who returned home wanting to tell Lee that she was pregnant, give Pippa a drink from his flask so she’d sleep while they dealt with Lisa’s body. Lee told Claire not to do it — he knew Ricky laced his whiskey with Rohypnol — but after Pippa confirmed to Claire what she’d overheard, Claire gave her the “medicine.” Lee then suffocated Pippa with a pillow, and Claire told Ricky she’d died of a reaction to the Rohypnol.

As she’s done throughout the season, executive producer Jane Featherstone joined Yahoo TV for a debriefing.

Was the not guilty verdict something creator Chris Chibnall knew from the start of the season?
It was something we knew from the beginning. We did shoot two versions — a guilty and a not guilty — but that was much more for misdirection. We definitely knew which that was going to be, and it was clear for Chris that it had to be that way because this was to explore the price of justice and the cost of truth. It was essential that it wasn’t easy and tied up and neat, because the truth is it often isn’t like that [with] the justice system. You need to challenge and question that.

At the same time, there is hope and positivity because the Sandbrook case is finally solved, and Lisa’s body is found, and both families can put that story to rest, and the people who are guilty of that crime will be convicted. So I think it was very important to Chris that it happen like that.

Joe went to Rev. Paul (Arthur Darvill) for help, and Paul let Nige (Joe Sims) and Mark (Andrew Buchan) drag Joe away. For a moment, viewers think Paul is letting them kill him. But they take him to the hut, where Beth and Ellie tell Joe he’s being banished. Were there other versions of that scenario?
We felt — and Chris felt — very clearly that you could go down a slightly more vigilante version, but that that, from real people, doesn’t feel that truthful. And also, he felt that the women in this story have always been at the heart of it. Ellie and Beth are so key to it, that for it to end with the men killing Joe just didn’t feel right to Chris. So he was very keen to write that confrontation scene where they have the moral high ground and they win, ultimately, because they haven’t fallen to his level. But they banished him, and that banishment is enough punishment from their point of view. They couldn’t kill him because then they’d be as bad as him.

What were the key factors deciding how the Sandbrook case would play out?
Chris knew what he wanted to do with it always, but how you deliver that in terms of the flashbacks, and how much story you reveal, and when you reveal it — there were lots of conversations about that. You get one thing you think you know, and then [gasps] suddenly another person is involved, and then, oh no, another one is involved. I love the way it’s structured in that way. You’re always having the rug pulled out from under you. You think you know and you don’t.

It doesn’t demonize the three of them either, because they did some bad stuff that night, but it wasn’t intended to be like that. They made some really poor decisions. [Laughs.] And again, that feels real. We’re not living in a serial killer world. This is a true place, and it has to feel authentic. So even though, you know, I’m not sure any of us would do what Claire did and what Lee did and what Ricky did, ultimately, you believe those characters would do that.

The scene at the end with both Beth’s family and Ellie’s family reclaiming the beach is beautiful.
Absolutely. Reclaiming the beach and reclaiming their friendship with each other, which had been so damaged and destroyed by the process and by the murder. It was a wonderful day to shoot it, and the little boy [who plays Fred] did such an amazing job running into their arms. [Laughs.] And I think, “You’re late!” “But we’ve got crisps!” just embodies the series in many ways — that sort of wonderful, truthful friendship. And I love the moment where Beth puts her hand in Mark’s pocket where you think, who knows if these two are going to make it, but there’s a sparkle of hope there. So I think it’s a great, great scene.

Hardy and Ellie say goodbye — shaking hands, not hugging — and then the final shot of the season is Hardy straightening his tie and pausing when the cab driver asks, “Where to then, sir?” We don’t hear an answer.
Again, I think that’s sort of a perfect Broadchurch thing, really, where she wouldn’t hug him and it’s kind of slightly awkward. But you don’t need to be told: You know that they’re very fond of each other and that actually, they’re going to really bloody miss each other. [The final shot] is, what is his future? What choices is he going to make now? That leaves the lovely question in your mind, I think.

Broadchurch will return for a third season. David Tennant and Olivia Colman will reprise their roles.