Don't miss out: ITV's gripping crime drama with a "phenomenal" cast is now on Netflix
If you've been craving a tight, moody mystery to get lost in after work, Broadchurch just arrived on Netflix in the UK. All three seasons. All 24 episodes. The whole story in one place, finally.
It's the one (movies and tv series) with David Tennant (movies and tv series) and Olivia Colman (movies and tv series), playing DI Alec Hardy and DS Ellie Miller in a quiet Dorset seaside town where nothing is really quiet. Their partnership is prickly, tender, and deeply human - the kind that makes you lean in.
What's the case?
Season 1 (2013) follows the murder of 11-year-old Danny Latimer and the way a tight-knit community frays when the police knock on familiar doors. Season 2 (2015) sits with the fallout - how people carry on, or don't. Season 3 (2017) turns to a sexual assault case that asks harder questions and refuses easy answers.
The cast is stacked
The first season alone reads like a who's who of British TV. It's genuinely fun - and a little eerie - to clock familiar faces in every scene.
- David Tennant, Olivia Colman
- Jodie Whittaker (movies and tv series), Vicky McClure (movies and tv series), Andrew Buchan
- Jonathan Bailey (movies and tv series), Alfred Enoch (movies and tv series), Arthur Darvill (movies and tv series)
- David Bradley (movies and tv series), Will Mellor (movies and tv series)
Season 2 adds Charlotte Rampling (movies and tv series), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (movies and tv series), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (movies and tv series) and Eve Myles (movies and tv series). Season 3 brings in Julie Hesmondhalgh (movies and tv series), Georgina Campbell (movies and tv series) and Lenny Henry (movies and tv series). Critics have called the ensemble "phenomenal," and honestly, that's not overselling it.
Why it still hits
Broadchurch isn't just about catching a killer. It's about the long, uncomfortable quiet after the press vans leave. The fog rolling off the cliffs. The way people look away in the shop because they don't know what to say. It treats grief with care, and it lets characters be messy without turning them into clichés.
The show's got the receipts, too. Across its three seasons, Broadchurch holds an average approval rating of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. One reviewer put it this way: "Broadchurch still succeeds in using its mystery as a way of delving into deeper emotions." Another called season 1 "full of hope and love even in the wake of tragedy" - a rare note for a crime drama, and a fair one. You can read that take at Collider.
If you're on the fence
Here's what this could mean for your watchlist: a complete, self-contained story with an ending that lands. No filler seasons. No spin-off homework. Just three thoughtful chapters that build on each other and leave you with something to feel and talk about.
Broadchurch is streaming now on Netflix in the UK. Clear a weekend. Or don't - but you might end up watching "just one more" anyway.
