'Broadchurch' Postmortem: Inside the Trip to Sandbrook and That Surprise Return

Spoiler alert! The fourth episode of Broadchurch's second season saw Ellie (Olivia Colman) and Hardy (David Tennant) take a road trip to Sandbrook — and share a room — while Claire (Eve Myles) stayed home and shared her bed with her husband, suspected killer Lee (James D’Arcy).

Susan (Pauline Quirke), meanwhile, made her return and took the stand at Joe’s trial to again claim she saw Nige (Joe Sims) on the beach the night Danny Latimer was killed.

Below, we continue our weekly debriefings with Broadchurch executive producer Jane Featherstone.

On the road to Sandbrook, Hardy told Ellie the story of how he found Pippa’s body in the river. The cuts from the flashback to the car, it’s one of those sequences that Broadchurch does best: haunting and so beautifully shot and edited. What was the most important thing to capture?
I think David’s performance is the most extraordinary thing in it. I think it’s so real and powerful, and knowing that [Hardy] has carried this burden with him for a series and a half, you get to really feel in that moment what that was about. I think it’s harrowing and extraordinary, and put that down to performance and great acting.

We have to talk about the one bed in the hotel room. We’ve talked before about the lack of sexual tension between Ellie and Hardy. Couldn’t it have been a hotel room with two beds? 

[Laughs.] Not in the U.K., it wouldn’t have been. That honestly is worth putting in your piece. The British hotel rooms are all that size. I have never seen two double beds in a British hotel room. It does not happen. So for the British audience, that is completely standard. That’s all you’re going to get. You never get two double beds, ever. Truly.

Related: 'Broadchurch' Postmortem: Exec Producer Talks Ellie and Hardy's (Lack of) Sexual Tension

Noted! We meet Hardy’s ex-wife, Tess (Lucy Cohu), who declines his request to reopen the Sandbrook case. What were you looking for when casting her?
You had to believe they were married, and that they had a child together who they both love. I think Lucy just carries, in those few scenes she has, so much truth and pain and history with the character. You’ll see that relationship gets to such a sad, sweet, wonderful place. So yeah, she was hard to cast, but she came in and did a wonderful audition, and she and David just made it work together beautifully.

We also get to meet Pippa’s father, Ricky (Shaun Dooley), who confronts Hardy in front of Tess and his daughter, doesn’t want him to continue his investigation, and is the only number besides Hardy’s in Claire’s phone.
We wanted him to be the bloke next door, which is what he is in the story. He likes the women, he likes looking around, but he’s quite normal, quite average in some ways and then you start to peel away at him. It’s a man suffering the death of his child, and what that can do to someone and where that takes him — that’s obviously what we explore in the next half of the series.

While Hardy and Ellie are away, Lee and Claire sleep together and, to put it bluntly, we learn Claire likes it rough.
Well, I think what we always wanted to do with that, and what [creator/writer Chris Chibnall] felt strongly about, was that these two, when they’re apart, probably not that dangerous. But together, there was something in their dynamics that made them quite dangerous with each other and that was a sort of addiction. Claire said that actually, that she was sort of addicted to him and he to her, and that their relationship ultimately was destructive to themselves and other people because of the expense of the feelings they had for each other. So it has to be a sexually charged relationship to feel that it could work at that level. I think, again, Eve does that so brilliantly when she is talking about that sort of incidental, but sort of an amazing moment.

Let’s move on to Susan’s return. She’s the creepiest character on the show, which, in a strange way, makes her a fan favorite. Was that something you and Chris felt right away from Series 1?

Yeah. She doesn’t have many redeeming characteristics, does she? But what’s so fascinating about her story, as told in Episode 7 of Series 1 — and so powerful and painful, as well — is even though she doesn’t have many redeeming characteristics in the present, you know why she’s like that and you feel for her. It’s one of the things that Chris does brilliantly: He still makes you empathize with everyone in their darkest moment because they’re still human beings.

So Susan Wright, even in her darkness, is a mother who’s tortured, really. I think her coming back is a great surprise, which we managed to keep a secret in the British press from everybody. [It] was the thought of much negotiation at the time: Should we say that she came back or not? But I think it’s an amazing moment when suddenly she pops up in that caravan and you’re like, “Oh, my goodness, she’s back!” I think Pauline is such a surprising choice for that, as well.

Related: 'Broadchurch' Postmortem: The Prosecution Takes a Hit

I’ve talked to Matthew Gravelle (Joe) about the secrecy surrounding his return in Series 2: wearing wigs to and from set, staying in a separate hotel from the rest of the cast. Was there that kind of secrecy around her return?
Not quite to the extent of Matthew. I mean, there was a lot of security around the whole series to be honest. So there was an awful lot of hiding all sorts of things. [Laughs.]

How do you interpret Susan telling Nige that she’s returned to make peace, and then when he still wants nothing to do with her, her turning around and IDing him in court?
This is my personal interpretation and not what Chris necessarily intended or what the audience may feel. My personal view is that she believes she wants to make peace with him. When she’s on the beach with him and she says that to him, I believe she wants him to say, “OK, I understand you now and I will let you come into my life.” When he doesn’t, that’s what prompts her to go on the stand and talk that way. So for me, she genuinely is seeking to get back with her own child, but that rejection upsets her, angers her, and she wants to provoke him again. It’s like a wound that she just can’t help scratching. The baby photo — that’s an extraordinary moment because it carries such weight and she is trying to connect with him, but it’s just too late for them. She is a tortured soul.

Related: 'Broadchurch' Postmortem: Inside the Season 2 Premiere

Ellie’s sister Lucy (Tanya Franks) also testified, and, against Ellie’s advice, said she was certain it was Joe she saw dumping trash the night Danny was killed. Hate is a strong word, but she’s one of those characters that you—
Love to hate. That character always thinks she’s in the right and right. I think she genuinely believes that she is doing the right thing. What’s interesting about that as a moment is, how many of us would be tempted to do the same thing? Because everyone knows it was Joe, or they believe they know it was him, and she did see someone that looks a lot like Joe. So how hard is it? And what is justice — where is that? She presents a slightly different side of that question, which is interesting.

Broadchurch airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on BBC America.