sits at the edge of a precipice, and is the scene of some of the creepiest moments in the series.
A SEASIDE TOWN
Screenwriter David Chibnall considered the dramatic East Cliff at Chesil Beach as a character in the dark plot of Broadchurch.
explore that part of the Dorset coast to see just how the two filming locations stack up.
THE SCENE OF THE CRIME In the Dorset village of West Bay (Bridport Harbour), tour guide Natalie Manifold walks fans around some of the locations that stand out in the original Broadchurch series, the most memorable being the Jurassic Coast itself. This UNECO World Heritage Site consists of a series of massive vertical cliff faces that backstop miles of beaches along the English Channel. Chesil Beach, beneath the forbidding face of East Cliff, is where a young boy’s body is discovered in Broadchurch, setting off the search for the killer. Standing on the pebbly beach, surrounded by sunbathers, kids, dogs and fishermen, the scene is idyllic, not eerie, and the view from the grassy fields atop these golden sandstone cliffs is spectacular. But in my mind’s eye, I still see the kid on the precipice and the yellow police tape encircling the beach. The equivalent location in the Gracepoint remake is Island View Beach, a regional park in central Saanich, where locals go for the piles of tumbled driftwood, flocks of shore birds and secret spots for clothing-optional tanning. While there are no real cliffs, there are sandy dunes and bluffs overlooking Haro Strait and, thanks to creative camera angles and some digitally enhanced imagery (adding some California cliffs into some scenes), there’s an ominous presence. A beach cottage dubbed the Harvey Ridge Hut, constructed on a bluff overlooking Island View Beach, can still be seen if you hike along the sand flats. Though it’s just about six feet above the water, it looks like it’s perched high on a cliff. This cottage stands in for the Briar Cliff Hut in Broadchurch, a spot we reach by climbing up the steep pathway behind West Bay. The isolated old house truly
Oak Bay’s “high street” — as Scottish actor Tennant describes it — makes the perfect Gracepoint main street, and in the series, you’ll see the characters walking from the local Gracepoint Journal newspaper offices (the former Guardian Pharmacy on Foul Bay Road), past Fairway Market to Oaks Restaurant, which becomes The Crestview Inn, the hotel where Tennant (Det. Emmett Carver) lives. Similarly, the beach town of West Bay (a.k.a. Bridport Harbour) offers many of the locations you’ll see in Broadchurch. We walk along the east pier that juts out into the blue sea, past the black shelter where the detectives discuss their futures in the final episode, and around the harbour toward the modern concrete and glass buildings that serve as both the police station and Broadchurch Café in the British series. At the edge of the beach, there’s the blue awning of Jack Marshall’s news agent shop and the Sea Brigade Hall (the old Methodist Church), where he is mobbed by angry Actors Anna Gunn and David Tennant (as detectives Ellie Miller and Emmett Carver) in a scene in the second installment of Gracepoint, shot on Oak Bay Avenue.