Favorites return with second season of ‘Broadchurch’

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When his shattering murder mystery “Broadchurch” exploded into an international hit a couple of years ago, writer-creator Chris Chibnall hinted that he had something different in mind for Season 2. In fact, he wouldn’t even confirm which, if any, characters from Season 1 – including detectives Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller (David Tennant, Olivia Colman) – would be back.

Fans will be relieved, then, to find nearly all their favorites returning as the new season premieres Wednesday night on BBC America.

“Chris sees this season as a courtroom drama, not a thriller. In his mind, that was the shift he was talking about,” executive producer Jane Featherstone explains. “We were still working things out at that point, but he didn’t want to just have the same cops doing another murder in the same town. He wanted to work out the impact of a very public murder trial on these individuals we had come to know and love.”

Season 2 opens on the day of Joe Miller’s (Matthew Gravelle) arraignment, but while spectators – and even Joe’s barrister – expect a guilty plea and quick sentencing, things take an unexpected turn and Broadchurch braces itself for a murder trial that threatens to blow the lid off still more local secrets. Joe enlists a formidable defense team headed by Queen’s Counsel (QC) Sharon Bishop (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a fascinating new character.

“For her, the main thing is that everyone deserves a good defense,” the actress says. “Looking at the evidence, she sees that there definitely were things that went awry. That alone told her this guy was not going to be treated fairly in this small town, in such an emotionally charged situation.”

Meanwhile, Alec – still nursing a bum ticker and no longer on active duty – remains in Broadchurch for reasons that at first seem unclear, until his past comes back to haunt him via new developments in the previously failed investigation that followed him like a dark cloud as he first arrived in the town last season. This secondary story line introduces two other new characters played by Eve Myles (“Torchwood”) and James D’Arcy (“Marvel’s Agent Carter”), but it’s virtually impossible to reveal more about that plot thread without venturing into some major spoilers.

While Season 1 of “Broadchurch” came rushing at you with the chilling inevitability of an avalanche, Season 2 unfolds more deliberately. As before, though, fans can anticipate plenty of twists, shocks and haunting performances.