Julie Hesmondhalgh joins David Tennant, Olivia Colman in final Broadchurch series

(Image credit: S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Former Corrie favourite Julie Hesmondhalgh will co-star with David Tennant and Olivia Colman in the final series of Broadchurch, ITV has announced.

The new eight-part series will herald a brand new case for DI Alec Miller (Tennant) and DS Ellie Hardy (Colman), with the detectives reuniting to investigate a serious sexual assault.

 

As well as Julie, other new faces include BAFTA winner Georgina Campbell as well as Sarah Parish, Charlie Higson and Mark Bazeley.

 

Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan return to play Beth and Mark Latimer, Arthur Darvill is back as local vicar Paul Coates, while Carolyn Pickles returns as newspaper editor Maggie Radcliffe and Adam Wilson as Ellie’s son Tom.

 

Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall said: “This is the final chapter of Broadchurch. We have one last story to tell, featuring both familiar faces and new characters. I hope it’s a compelling and emotional farewell to a world and show that means so much to me.”

 

The thrid series explores the consequences of a serious sexual assault as a Dorset community comes under the scrutiny of Hardy and Miller’s investigation.

Based on a year of research with Dorset-based organisations who specialise in dealing with victims of sexual assault, and police advisors who specialise in investigating crimes of sexual violence, Broadchurch’s final chapter looks at the emotional cost to all of those involved and the irreparable damage to friendships and relationships.

 

Co-executive producer Jane Featherstone said: “We will return to the town and characters we know so well as they find themselves caught up in a new and compelling story which will test the strength of the community and the people who live there, and will, I hope, be a fitting end to this trilogy.”

 

Filming will commence this summer in the Dorset communities of Bridport, West Bay and Clevedon, which have featured as locations in Broadchurch series one and two.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.