This would have scored nine stars from me, as it is unquestionably a top-quality TV show and I enjoyed it on many levels. However, since I am reviewing all three seasons as a whole it must lose a star due to the second season, which most people agreed was the weakest of the three.Season one was moody, atmospheric, sinister, stylish, suspenseful, and exquisitely acted by a notable ensemble of British talent. It was a perfectly self-contained season-long story, with a morally satisfying conclusion (if not the vengeance-soaked bloodbath that I had personally been hoping for). It was nowhere near as grim and bleak as I had expected beforehand - for some reason I'd got it into my head that it was a sort of British Nordic Noir - so being generally sunlit and non-depressing, it is something I'll be able to watch again, many times no doubt.Season two made the catastrophic mistake of attempting to continue the previous season's storyline with a thoroughly frustrating and unsatisfying court case, interspersed with a brand new story running simultaneously. The net result was that the new storyline didn't get the time or attention that it needed, and was therefore something of a damp squib, while the trial of the murderer from season one only served to spoil the aftertaste of that excellent season and make the eventual end of that storyline less pleasing than when it had been left with the arrest and a sense of closure.Season three intelligently went in a completely different direction, returning to a single story-arc, but this time featuring a brutal rape. This season was not quite as good as the first, but it was nevertheless thoroughly gripping and engrossing throughout, with good writing and fine performances all round. Following the successful model of the first series (and most Agatha Christie whodunits) it introduced us to a cast of potential suspects and allowed us the leisure of an entire season to guess who done it. (I got it wrong, by the way!)Overall, Broadchurch is an above-average armchair detective series, with attractive scenery, gorgeous cinematography, strong writing, nuanced performances from a talented cast, and a pleasing mix of old-fashioned formulas with modern styling.(And yet the Americans still had to make their own version of it - ironically filmed in Canada - rather than just enjoying our version. Go figure!)

Pretty much what the title says. The first two seasons are fantastic. Well acted, compelling, interesting. Third season feels like someone decided that men are weak, selfish, bad parents and so on. Every male character falls into that category, including the male lead. Women tend to be more victims who persevere despite all the wrongdoings of the males.Literally, not a single male character is safe. Even the child (teen) characters tend to be portrayed in negative light. This wouldn't have been noticeable if at least one or two characters wouldn't fall into this category, but no.Don't misunderstand. I'm all for strong female characters, female-centric shows and so on. I loved The Good Wife, Resident Evil, Game of Thrones, The Americans and Into the Badlands. But any show that wants to make female characters appear strong by making all the males extremely flawed, is not my cup of tea.

The movie is perfect for people who like investigating murder by detectives! The main characters played their nice roles!

I watched this on Netflix over the course of three or four evenings, the first two seasons at least. After that I couldn't really go on. The acting is generally good, though David Tennant is a bit too Hamlet at times. The cinematography is excellent, but the direction is meandering, with too many shots of characters marching or running across the skyline or walking along the beach. The real problem is the writing. All suspense is gone by the middle of the first season, by which time we suspect that anyone could have dunnit, with the possible exception of the victim's mother, but a few more suspects come and go to keep things moving before the season ends. With a whimper. Season two descends into soap opera, with sub-plots sputtering off in all directions, and all of the season one suspects becoming suspects once again, before the villain of season one is revealed to be the villain of season two. By which point I just wanted it to be over. It was like watching a pantomime.