Never let it be said that American telly can’t lock in on British shows it wants to remake. Though it doesn’t always lead to success – for every Office there’s a Coupling – it doesn’t stop the networks across the pond trying. The latest target for Americanisation is crime drama Broadchurch, and two new casting announcements have arrived, with word that Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn and Silver Linings Playbook’s Jacki Weaver are aboard.
They’re joining David Tennant, who is largely reprising his police role from the ITV version, albeit with an American name, Detective Emmett Carver. And the whole show is getting a new moniker, Gracepoint.
Gunn will slide into the role of Detective Ellie Miller, as played by Olivia Colman in the original, while Weaver will be the suspicious Susan Wright, the character assayed by Pauline Quirke. The murder mystery will still play out in a small coastal town, but there’s no word yet on whether all the plot beats will stay the same.
Broadchurch’s creator Chris Chibnall is on hand to write the first episode and help to oversee the show, with Dan Futterman and Anya Epstein doing the majority of the work running the show. Fox wants this on the air starting late 2014.
Meanwhile, given that Gunn is playing Olivia Colman’s character, the scene is surely set for Colman to star in a British take on Breaking Bad. Illegal Cake production in Derbyshire, anyone?