Broadchurch: Episode 3.1

Broadchurch: Episode 3.1
ITV
28 June 2017
Crime Drama
DVD
B-

I found the first two-thirds of this series opener disorienting, and not just because so much time was spent on the process of making a rape report.  Alec is back, although the viewers, and for that matter Ellie, have no idea why.  We were told at the end of the previous series that he was moving closer to his daughter, and yet she now seems to be living locally as well.  Three years have passed since Danny's murder and Tom is now fifteen.  (So maybe I misheard "thirteen" as "seventeen" before.)  Baby Lizzie looks to be maybe four.

Mark seems to be divorced or at least separated from Beth, and he has mixed feelings about having let Maggie interview him for her new book about Danny.  Beth has become a rape counselor and the victim we met earlier is her new client.  We see Paul the vicar in one scene, but a lot of the regulars from the first two series are absent.  It'll take me awhile to get my bearings here.  I will say that Alec and Ellie are still great together, as in the scene where they talk about his nickname of "Shitface."

New cast members we'll see at least once more:

• Emily Allison takes over the role of Lizzie Latimer
• Sebastian Armesto as Clive Lucas
• Mark Bazeley as Jim Atwood
• Georgina Campbell as D.C. Katie Harford
• comedian Lenny Henry as Ed Burnett
• Julie Hesmondhalgh as Trish Winterman
• Roy Hudd as David Barrett
• Sarah Parish as Cath Atwood
• Sunetra Sarker as Sahana Harrison

Paul Andrew Williams would direct four more episodes.