'Broadchurch' Star Matthew Gravelle Talks Joe's Fate

‘Broadchurch’ Postmortem: Matthew Gravelle Talks Joe’s Verdict

Spoiler alert! In the Season 2 finale of Broadchurch, the verdict was delivered in Joe’s murder trial.

The jury found Joe (Matthew Gravelle) not guilty. Though he wanted to return to Broadchurch, Rev. Paul (Arthur Darvill) arranged for Mark (Andrew Buchan) and Nige (Joe Sims) to kidnap Joe at the church and take him to the hut — where Beth (Jodie Whittaker) and Ellie (Olivia Colman) were waiting to tell him that he was being banished to Sheffield and would never see his sons again.

Read what Broadchurch executive producer Jane Featherstone has to say about the verdict and the solving of the Sandbrook case here. Below, Gravelle describes what it was like shooting those final emotional scenes.

You actually shot both verdicts — not guilty and guilty.
It was a hedging of bets kind of thing. Just in case it got out or leaked, we had a tactic to go, “Ha, ha! No! But that’s not how it ends.” That was the reason behind it. But I guess had Chris [Chibnall, the show’s creator] changed his mind during the process, we could have gone, “Why don’t we go this direction now.”

In your mind, why does Joe want to return to Broadchurch so badly, knowing what must await him?
It was less because he wanted to get back to the town so badly and more that he didn’t want to be in prison and the idea of being away from his kids was dreadful. But once he is released, then the reality of that kind of hits him: Well, how does this work now? Everybody hates me. My son hates me. My wife hates me. How can it possibly work?

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When Mark and Nige kidnap Joe at the church, viewers have time to wonder if they’re taking him away to kill him. Did Chris tell you how that would play out post-verdict before you read it, or were you reading the script wondering as well?
That was something that I got in the script for the first time. I didn’t know where it was going to go. I didn’t know whether Joe was going to try to go back and somehow be involved in Broadchurch life as a kind of invisible figure, a specter for everybody else. It was a surprise. It made sense that there was a vigilante group trying to instill their own form of justice, but it was a shock, yeah.

EP Jane Featherstone said Chris wanted the women to be the ones to dole out the punishment, because the story has always centered on them. Is that how you saw it?
I think it shows the strength of the female characters. They are actually the strength through the whole series, the people who are keeping it going. Beth is propping up her marriage and trying to make it work. Mark is trying to be strong, but actually not really facing up to anything. Ellie is an absolute rock — buries her emotion, but is solid and determined. And then you see that from Ellie and Beth at the end. So I think it’s absolutely fitting.

How did you prepare for Joe’s big hut scene with Beth and Ellie?
The hut is really there. That really exists, just as sparse as it is, and as remote as it is, and you think they’re full of hatred towards Joe. So when you walk in there, and you’ve just been manhandled from the back of a van, you kind of don’t need to do that much prep… We did shoot a scene where I was in the back of the van with my own tie in my mouth, which would have made it slightly more violent, unknown, and terrifying for Joe. But we decided not to use that in the end.

That must have been fun to shoot.
That was very calm and pleasant, actually. I don’t recommend sitting in the back of a van with a tie in your mouth.

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Did you suffer any injuries during those manhandling scenes?
I may have slipped out of somebody’s hands perhaps when they were carrying me out of the church. Churches are not known for their gymnastics-style flooring, they’re pretty solid. So that hurt a little [laughs] but I got over it. Joe, who plays Nige, he didn’t escape unscathed either. So I gave as good as I got.

It seems even at the hut that Joe’s still not taking responsibility for Danny’s death. How do you read him when he says he’s sorry?
Well, he’s been cleared of it, so as far as he’s concerned, he’s not guilty. When he’s apologizing, he’s not necessarily apologizing for what happened. It’s almost like a plea for his life, because he thinks he’s going to be killed in that hut — so that’s just the kind of scared, cowardly reaction. [Laughs.] There’s still no kind of hands up and saying, “Yes, yes, OK you got me, fine.” He’s saying, “No, you can’t throw me out of the town, that can’t happen.” And then he’s put in a cab.

What do you remember about filming that final walk out to the taxi, with everybody lining Joe’s path?
I got a bit of a shiver, a bit of a chill during it. You know when you take an intake of breath and it kind of catches you emotionally? You know when kids take too many breaths and they’re about to cry? I had one of those. It just kind of hit me like, “Oh my God, I’ve got to walk past all these people.” I, Matthew, am genuinely fond of all of these people, and I’ve got to walk past them, and they all hate me. That was quite tough, tougher than I thought it was going to be.

Related: 'Broadchurch’ Actor Matthew Gravelle on the Secrecy Surrounding Season 2 and Joe’s Not Guilty Plea

What do you think happened to Joe next?
Well, in my mind, he doesn’t have much of a choice other than to at least get in the cab and get on a train. Once he’s on the train, I wonder… I have to try to think out whether he’d go along with their plan for a little while and try to make it work resentfully, and then maybe try to make his own way somewhere else… Because I can’t see him staying in Sheffield where they have exiled him for a great deal of time, unless there’s somebody making sure that he’s there.

It’s been announced that there’ll be a third season and that David and Olivia will reprise their roles. I know you can’t say whether or not Joe will be in it, but do you know the answer?
I would love to know whether Joe would be involved in that so I could lie to you or tell you the truth, but I have no idea.