Broadchurch Textual Analysis

This is an analysis of Broadchurch Season 1 Episode 1, which is a 24 episode crime drama show (split into three series) which aired on ITV on 4th March 2013.

The show follows two detectives as they try to find out what has happened to an 11 year old boy as his corpse is found bloodied and dirty on a beach in Dorset. When trying to find out about the crime the shows follows the interactions of people set in the fictional town of Broadchurch and if they had anything to do with the death of Danny Latimer (the boy).

I decided to research into this show because after having looked into soap operas (e.g: Coronation Street) I found that if I were to create my own soap opera it would be difficult to convey any sense of narrative within the few minutes I have. As well as this soap opera don't necessarily have enough conventions to replicate in making my show unique or interesting, whereas the genre of crime drama can offer me a lot more variety in exploration ie: the focus of narrative can be clearer as characters can be more prominent etc.

-

The beginning:
The show begins with setting the scene of the crime including establishing things like the setting, the shows genre and suggesting to the audience how the death may have taken place. 

We are first introduced with the image and sounds of the waves crashing which introduces us to this seaside town. The shot then progresses to denote a street where it is seen to be night time, then a shot of a police station, a house and then finally to 'Danny's Room'. Combined with the progressive repetitive music this introduction builds tension for the audience as we are both introduced to this town (through the scenes of the streets and the police station) as well as coming up to the situation.

The situation: The audience is introduced to a medium shot of a boy on top of a cliff, he is looking down, there's blood dripping from his fingertips; as the camera moves above the boy you're able to see what he can see which is a long distance from the top of the cliff to the beach. As the audience is shown this they are able to infer what has happened.

The introduction to this series is effective because by introducing the crime right at the beginning audiences already know what the focal point of the show is. This means that this allows the show to unravel the crime through the search of the detectives and allows audiences to also question what has happened - enigma.

In terms of my own show I think a key convention is to create enigma in the minds of the audience for them to be engaged and interested (as well as being a big part of crime drama conventions). Broadchurch does this effectively because it both shows you so much, which is also so little. One way that this is emphasises is through the pacing of the show which is quite slow and long however this difficult to do with my own production as I don't have 45 minutes to work with.

-
Throughout the show there is a clear equilibrium to this quiet town which has been disruptive by the death of this young boy. There is the routine of waking up, family life, breakfast and arguing. We are introduced to a friendly neighbourhood where you see the characters talking and saying hello to each other, family talk, weather talk etc. When at the beach you can see people in the background watching the police tape up the area and being confused. As the town seems so pure or peaceful you almost start to question everyone as to who the criminal may be.

This is successful for a crime drama because it creates an unnerving atmosphere as to either what may happen next or how a crime can take place in any normal location.


Overall I think the show presented a different way of creating a crime drama show without having to be 'face paced', it builds enigma in the minds of the audience and distrupts a pure equilibrium.