Broadchurch v. Gracepoint

So recently, Fox remade the British TV series Broadchurch. They even had David Tennant reprise his role in the role. But they did make one significant change to the ending.

Being a huge David Tennant fan, I watched Gracepoint (I didn’t have access to Broadchurch). Today I discovered that Netflix has Broadchurch, and so I decided to watch the first episode to get an idea about the differences.

Here’s what I noticed right off the bat.

1.     Broadchurch looks like it was filmed somewhere sunny and warm, like CA, instead of gloomy England, where it was actually filmed.

2.     Gracepoint looked like it was filmed in England, and was actually filmed in British Columbia. I had a hard time believing Gracepoint was supposed to be in California.

3.     In Broadchurch, David Tennant has a Scottish accent, which is much more pronounced than his accent in Dr. Who.  In Gracepoint, he has an American accent.

4.     Broadchurch’s first episode is quite cheerful. The characters seem likable and happy, as opposed to tense and grumpy in Gracepoint. I honestly wasn’t sure, 4 episodes in, why I was still watching Gracepoint.

5.     Jodie Whittaker, age 32, looks old enough to have a teenage daughter. Virginia Kull does not. After a lot of searching, it appears that Kull is 33, but I still don’t buy it. The whole time I just looked at her perfectly smooth baby face and thought “16 year old daughter? No way!”

6.     In Broadchurch, Beth and Mark seem much more in harmony, at least so far. In the first episode of Gracepoint it was clear that Beth and Mark were in a bad place in their marriage.

7.     British police wear funny hats.

I don’t know if I’ll continue watching Broadchurch, but I might!