Some years back ITV launched Primeval to capture a bit of the Doctor Who audience that the BBC had a monopoly on. It was a mixed success - back to the drawing board! "Well if we can't beat them with a science fiction show then we'll just have to poach all their cast and crew from beneath them" a representative from ITV may have once decided (probably not, but stick with me).
Along came Broadchurch. Written by Chris Chibnall (writer of 5 Doctor Who episode's including The Power Of Three, and 8 episodes of Torchwood including Day One), directed by Euros Lyn (director of 10 episodes of Who including The End Of Time, and all of Torchwood: Children Of Earth), starring David Tennant (you don't really need me to do this one do you?), Olivia Colman (The Eleventh Hour), Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) and David Bradley (William Hartnell in An Adventure In Space And Time - OK so I'm cheating a bit with that one).
After the announcement that all the main players would be back for season 2 comes news of some new castings, and lo and behold, there's another Doctor Who alum in there. That would be Eve Myles, Torchwood's Gwen Cooper, who will be playing a central role in the new series.
"As if we didn't have enough fabulous actresses, it's a thrill to be joined by Wales' finest, Eve Myles. Having worked together on Torchwood, it's a joy to be able to welcome her to Broadchurch." added Chris Chibnall.Also joining the show will be Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Without A Trace), James D'Arcy (Master And Commander), and Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Bad Education).
So the way I see it is either ITV is now run by aliens who had spent years monitoring our broadcasts from space, gathering information on this hero called the Doctor and have now set out to lure him and his associates to the dark side by posing as television executives, or it's just concrete proof of the quality of the cast and crew who have worked on Doctor Who over the last decade.
I'm rooting for the alien option!
Source: ITV
