Broadchurch Episode 5: Who Is The Killer?



We want your guesses for the identity of the Broadchurch killer? Read the latest clues below and let us know who you think is responsible and why.

Spoilers below



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Reverend Paul Coates

Played by Arthur Darvill

Paul was very much the protector of his flock this week – airing his concerns and providing moral support. He even got to break up a catfight between wronged wife Beth and scarlet temptress Becca. Paul crossed swords with DI Hardy over the treatment of Jack, and showed a hitherto unexpected prowess for accountancy. Is this the first hint towards his life before the church called? “We all have our foibles” he said to Becca as she flirted shamelessly with him on the quayside. We think it’s nigh for Paul to start revealing some of his own.





Susan Wright   

Played by Pauline Quirke

Where to start with Scary Susan? First she has the crossbow-touting plumber’s mate Nige so wound up that he’s offering her sums of money to leave him be. £500, to be exact. That’s exactly the same sum of money that was found taped to the underside of Danny’s bed. Then Susan turned up her creepiness to a whole new level when she started making overtures to Ellie’s son Tom, tempting him up to her caravan to walk the dog. You would think that the son of a police detective and a paramedic would be wise enough to smell a rat, but Tom looks as though he might be drawn in. Will Susan soon be adding a second skateboard to her collection? Susan also seems the most likely character to have smoked the high tar cigarettes that were found by Danny’s body.




Joe Miller   

Played by Matthew Gravelle

Ellie’s husband seemed a voice of reason against the rising clamour of accusation against Jack. He was reluctant to get swept up in the hysteria. But did he have his own reasons for knowing that Jack was innocent?


Nige Carter  

Played by Joe Sims

Angry, volatile Nige was the ringleader of the campaign against Jack, fighting to protect the town’s children even though he has no children himself. Why was he so keen to ensure that the blame as placed on someone else? We still don’t know the nature of his connection to the malevolent Susan but it was enough to make him want to pay her off and to lose his temper with her. He even threatened her with the crossbow. The police still haven’t noticed that Nige’s whereabouts for later on the night of the murder are unaccounted for. Looking back too, Olly was quite rattled when Nige referred to his mum and the ‘business’ that had gone on. Is there something there that Nige is mixed up in?


Tom Miller  

Played by Adam Wilson

Tom was really questioning his dad about the consequences of finding the phone, about who Ellie thought murdered Danny and how long the murderer could expect to go to prison for. He’s still clearly very worried about something. It’s even enough to cloud his judgement over befriending Susan. Don’t go up to the caravan, Tom!




DI Alec Hardy  

Played by David Tennant

Poor Hardy, his investigation has slowed to a crawl and the population are starting to choose their own suspects. He had a run in with Paul over Jack and he failed to protect Jack from the mob. He does seem to be softening slightly towards Ellie and he even craved a bit of affection from Becca, though that situation suddenly became very awkward very fast. There was no sign of Hardy’s mystery illness this week so no unexplained blackouts. However, if he’s engineered the killing to prove himself and get his career back on track, he’s not doing a very good job of showing himself to be a great detective right now.


Chloe Latimer    

Played by Charlotte Beaumont

Chloe shares her dad’s short temper and was one of the loudest voices in town calling for the arrest and persecution of former convict Jack. She made sure that boyfriend Dean’s testimony against the newsagent was shared. Was this all to take the heat off herself or someone else or was she really so easily swayed by the press. Chloe is in a position, it seems, to find out secrets about other people, and she was furious with her dad’s hypocrisy. Would her temper have got the better of her and made her go all out to hurt him?




Dean Thomas  

Played by Jacob Anderson

Dodgy Dean turned up again tonight and played his part in stitching up Jack. Was it true or was he jumping on the chance to switch the focus to another suspect. We don’t know the extent of Dean’s dabbling in the darker side of Broadchurch, nor whether Danny discovered something about him


Olly Stevens   

Played by Jonathan Bailey

Our own prime suspect
Olly’s tactic to use the murder to further his own career seems to be paying off – he got his first piece printed in a national and he got to bed visiting journalist Karen. He was another who was keen to make sure that suspicion was focused on Jack – after all, it was his research that turned up the back story. Was this his plan all along? Then there’s the boat. It’s possible that when he took Karen down to the shore that was all engineered to make the discovery of its theft. It seemed all a little contrived. And he was so without scruples he even tried to get a scoop off that. We also met Olly’s mum last week – her money worries give him another reason to leave town.


Steve Connelly    

Played by Will Mellor

There was no sign of Steve this week Have Hardy and Miller chased him off for good? Was he really no more than the con man that they claim or will he return and what is the source of his information? A spirit guide or a first hand witness account? We also know that Steve is an outsider, so what would be his motive for killing Danny?


Kevin Green (The postman)

Played by Jack Ashton

There’s no more information about the postman and his whereabouts on the night of the murder was well accounted for. Now with Jack gone, will we ever get to the bottom of who was seen arguing with paperboy Danny?


Liz Roper  

Played by Susan Brown

Nobody has any real reason to suspect grandma Liz other than she appears to be without any guilt at all. Will she turn out to be an evil killer? Does she have the mandatory dark secret like all of our other suspects? At the moment the worst we can find on her is that she seemed to have a soft spot for Jack



DS Ellie Miller  

Played by Olivia Colman

It is tough for Ellie, starting to see her friends and neighbours as suspects while at the same time still holding on to her reputation as the Nicest Woman in Broadchurch. She has a tough side though and we don’t doubt that she would defend any member of her family if threatened. But would she kill?


Maggie Radcliffe   

Played by Carolyn Pickles

The chief editor of The Broadchurch Echo got another big scoop on her hands with the revelations about Jack. Is this what she intended, for the focus on the murder in the tiny town to raise her own reputation back to that of her glory years.





Mark Latimer  

Played by Andrew Buchan

Mark still has two hours unaccounted for on the night of the murder, between leaving Becca’s bed and returning home. He was also one of the few people who didn’t buy into the idea that Jack should be run out of town. Did he know better? We also know that Mark has a furious temper. He’s already let rip at Chloe, and Chloe has implied that he’s seen off previous boyfriends. Did his anger get the better of him when confronted by Danny?


Becca Fisher  

Played by Simone McAullay

Becca has been guilty of drug dealing and adultery along with the ultimate crime of turning down Alec Hardy’s advances. We also learn that she was let down by her previous partner (“Business partner. Everything partner”) and she’s in financial difficulties. Was she mixed up in another scheme to raise money? Did Danny find something out?


SOCO Brian

Played by Peter de Jersey

He has every opportunity to tamper with the evidence, of course. He could potentially put anyone in the frame. But what would be his motive? To get closer to Ellie to who he's clearly taken a shine?


Beth Latimer

Played by Jodie Whittaker

Danny’s mum is so broken with grief and anger that it can’t be possible that she killed her own son, surely? With her son gone and her marriage in ruins and with a new baby on the way, Beth just wants answers now.


Karen White

Played by Vicky McClure

Karen, with Olly, wrote the story that was turned into the condemanation of Jack Marshall. Did Karen, as an experienced tabloid journalist, know that this would happen. The backlash is bound to affect her target DI Hardy, is it not? So is this all part of a masterplan?



Lucy Stevens

Played by Tanya Franks

We met Olly’s mum and Ellie’s sister properly this week. A serious debtor with no scruples her first action was to try to offer Ellie information in exchange for money. So what exactly did she see? And just how desperate is she to shake off her troubles. Who is she mixed up with – Olly seemed terrified to talk to Nige about her.


The owner of the hut


As yet unnamed, whoever this is, don’t forget that they own the building where Danny was probably killed and they hold the other set of keys


And finally…




Jack Marshall 

Played by David Bradley

Poor Jack. If nothing else his sad story is a lesson in not believing without question all that is being fed to you. But without the full facts, Jack was hounded to his death by the people of the town, his former friends and shop customers and kids he had taught boatmanship all their lives. It’s likely that the repercussions will hit the police hard. Ypu also have to ask why certain people were so keen to promote his guilt: Nige, Chloe, Dean, Olly, Karen… did one of these have something to gain from Jack being accused?


Other things to consider:


Why did Danny have two phones? Where is his smartphone? Ellie says that the one handed in by Jack is not the one she recognises

Who owns the hut and what further clues will it give up

If it wasn’t the postman that Jack spotted arguing with Danny then who was it?

Where did Danny’s large sum of money come from?


Comments

  1. Interesting summing up of the story so far. I think Mark Latimer and his colleague Nige have more to hide. They were up to something and Danny may have known about it. Bronwen from Devon

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