When it comes to crime drama, the big ticket at this year’s Theakston’s Crime Writing festival was the Broadchurch panel session. It comprised writer and creator Chris Chibnall, actors Olivia Colman and Jodie Whittaker, and crime writer Erin Kelly, who has adapted the series into a novel. Chaired by the Radio Times’ Alison Graham, it was a delightful hour of insight, fun and a few interesting tributes regarding the much anticipated series two.
As we all gathered I don’t think anyone in the room thought they were going to get any seriously juicy spoilers for series two, but Chibnall did reveal a few interesting insights.
I’ll transcribe and upload the whole conversation sometime next week, but in the meantime here are the top lines:
– Series two is half way through filming.
– The series will air sometime next year on ITV.
– The panel discussed the ‘spoilery’ paparazzi pictures that appeared in newspapers a few months ago. Chibnall said that if the public knew what these images were really about they weren’t spoilers at all.
– Olivia Colman revealed that she knew almost from the very beginning of the filming process who the series one killer was.
– Chibnall then went onto add that series two would be playing around with flashbacks and different ‘times phases’.
This got me thinking. Chibnall is part of a school of writers who have worked on Doctor Who, and they like to throw casting surprises into the mix. I have to admit to being surprised that both David Tennant and Olivia Colman (and Whittaker for that matter) returned for the second series because their story arcs were so final at the end of the first series. What if Tennant and Colman are appearing in flashback and different time phase form only in series two? After all, there’s a sizable influx of new cast and character members (Charlotte Rampling and Marianne Jean Baptists among them). What if they’re going to be the main focus and Colman and Tennant are only to appear fleetingly? Just a theory.
The Killing Times 