The first series of the British crime drama Broadchurch originally aired on the ITV broadcast network in the United Kingdom from 4 March 2013 to 22 April 2013.

Among the many honours received by cast and crew, Olivia Colman won a BAFTA for Best Actress and David Bradley for Best Supporting Actor, and the series was named Best Drama.

[2] Following episode eight, an extra scene was released on YouTube depicting Danny's wake, held the afternoon after the funeral but before the evening when the beacons were lit.

Nigel and Mark were shown reconciled, Olly turned down a job at the Herald, and Hardy spoke to Karen about why he alerted her to Joe's arrest.

[9] The concept was to explore how a child's murder affects a small, close-knit community, and how the characters react to the media attention and the mutual suspicion that arises.

In true Thomas Hardy style I came up with a compound location name of Broadchurch combining the West Dorset hamlets of Broadstone and Whitchurch.

Having lived in the small Dorset town of Bridport, Chibnall saw how local newspapers had a major impact on their communities despite the prominence of new media such as the Internet.

He felt this led to poor writing, with loose plot threads "hastily" tied up and no way for the audience to adjust emotionally to the new information.

[9] Chibnall worried, however, that it would be difficult to convince ITV to turn over a substantial block of prime time programming hours to a series which would last eight episodes.

Heads for each department of the production—cinematography and lighting, editing, casting, make-up and hair, costuming, locations, administration, sound, etc.—were hired, and research began in all areas of production.

The production team refused to consider egotistical, obnoxious, vain, temperamental, or arrogant actors for roles, as they felt it made it difficult for both cast and crew to do their best work.

Chibnall's writing of the character was, in a way, collaborative: "We talked a lot about the role of a vicar in a community like that and what are the implications of the circumstances that the town is put in," said Darvill, "and what that means for someone in that position and certainly the responsibility of having to be a spiritual guide, a point of comfort, a figurehead, especially being quite young.

The way Chibnall showed how the community is affected by the murder, the newly unsettled relationships between the characters, and the disintegration of the bonds between people who once trusted one another also deeply attracted him to the project.

Chibnall paid particularly close attention to the Welsh language television series Teulu, in which Gravelle had recently played a lead role.

[43] Strong had helped Chibnall with the creative process of writing the story,[4] and agreed to come aboard the project as director even before casting occurred.

[4][44] Director James Strong said the goal was to make Broadchurch "look and feel different", "a world that was recognisable but in subtle extremis—an ordinary seaside town where events have upset the natural order of life.

[4] According to producer Richard Stokes, the studio sets were interiors, because equipment needs made it impractical to film on location, and included the Wessex Police Station.

Broadchurch series one was "wonderfully shot by cinematographer Matt Gray, who seems to make the oceanside backdrop only more beautiful as the characters in front of it fall apart.

Chibnall also discussed secrecy issues with directors James Strong and Euros Lyn, and they both agreed to its necessity before coming aboard the project.

Danny Latimer's death is very violent, which required telling McNamara about the killer's identity several days in advance so that the actor could prepare and the scene could be choreographed and rehearsed.

[j][21] After three months of production, the crew and key cast members were given the final three scripts (the last of which revealed the murderer's identity) over a single weekend.

[citation needed] Initially, Chibnall wanted to reveal the murderer's identity to the entire cast and crew at an all-hands meeting on the Harbour Cliffs Beach a few days before releasing the final three scripts.

The night before the meeting, the cast and crew filmed the "re-creation scene" where Tom Miller skateboards through Broadchurch in an attempt to jog people's memories.

Music which was intimate and depicted the flawed lives of the characters was needed, so the score was written for a string quartet and piano, accompanied by electronic sound.

Mike Hale, writing in The New York Times, called it "a tasty icing of gloom and foreboding", and noted that the show leaned very heavily on the mood that the music created.

"[64] The Broadchurch (Music From the Original Soundtrack) extended play album was released on 15 April 2013 by Mercury Classics, a division of Decca Records.

Bargroff held meeting with the producers and post-production as every episode neared completion, and they jointly identified elements of the sound which were in good shape, and those which needed work.

[18][70] Radio Times named it the best television series of 2013,[8] Matthew Bell of the industry journal Television called it "a cultural phenomenon",[12] and Entertainment Weekly and the Nottingham Post called it a "national obsession" in the U.K.[17][71] A typical critical assessment was made by Tirdad Derekhshani in The Philadelphia Inquirer: "British TV writer Chris Chibnall achieved something special with the ITV show Broadchurch: It's a tense, gripping murder mystery, for sure, but the eight-episode series that was shown on BBC America in August also is a brilliantly plotted, multilayered, intimate character study...[f]eaturing a brilliant ensemble cast..."[72] Not all reviews were rhapsodic.

Mike Hale in The New York Times, noted, "It's a pre-eminent example of what could be called the new International Style in television drama: a moody, slow-moving, complicated crime story with damaged heroes and not much redemption to go around."

Although he praised Broadchurch's music, cinematography, and editing, he also pointed out that they were highly derivative of the 2007-2012 Danish murder-mystery Forbrydelsen and its 2011-2014 American remake The Killing.