'Cheeky cliff-hangers' and the success of Broadchurch: We speak to creator Chris Chibnall

Read all the latest from our 8-page feature, including our interview with Chris Chibnall.

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Can you keep a secret? Read interviews with all the latest cast members joining this series of Broadchurch including Charlotte Rampling. Click here.

Recap the first series here ahead of tonights series two launch.

Love Olivia Coleman? See her top five roles here.

Are you a huge David Tennant fan? See his top five roles here.

THE first series of Broadchurch 2 will be airing in just a matter of hours.

Dorset Echo reporter Catherine Bolado chatted to the man responsible for Broadchurch fever in a bid to find out what this series has in store.

CHEEKY cliff hangers and more West Dorset than ever before – it has to be the highly anticipated return of Broadchurch.

The clock is ticking down to the second series and now that the tinsel and turkey have departed it’s time to usher in the New Year with more mystery.

ITV released three teaser trailers entitled ‘The End Is Where It Begins,’ showing seascapes and the now famous cliffs at West Bay.

The final clip shows Olivia Coleman and David Tennant on the cliff top with DI Alec Hardy’s voiceover saying: “There was a boy and he was killed. I caught the killer. So why am I still here?”

Well, why indeed?

The Echo spoke to writer and creator of Broadchurch, Chris Chibnall, as he travelled to London to finish the editing process for Broadchurch 2.

Frank, warm and funny, Chris chatted Broadchurch, West Dorset and how he’s looking forward to a holiday when work on the series finishes.

On the day we spoke Chris was off to do the final mix, putting the sound effects in and doing the final edit on an episode.

He said it felt like quite a long process from the beginning to putting the final credits on the final episode but that it had been ‘great’ and everyone involved in the project was looking forward to showing it to the world.

He laughs when I ask if he’s more nervous about this series than the last given the expectation this time round, “No, I was terrified the first time round. There’s no difference at all.”

He said with the first series viewers didn’t know who they were and didn’t have a reason to turn the TV on, but that it was a different process this time.

A very different process given the last episode of Broadchurch 1 saw 9.3million people tune in to see who killed Danny Latimer.

But Chris says he still feels the same pressure as with the first ever episode. He said: “I want us to have told a story to the best of our ability.”

Chris says they wanted to take the audience on a different journey within the Broadchurch world – the ‘same essence but a different experience’.

He said: “It’s a very emotional story again. It’s not the same emotions.

“What we didn’t want to do is repeat ourselves.”

He added: “There’s mystery in the series but it’s not the same whodunit with 15 different suspects.

“It’s a very different story.”

So far so mysterious, and clearly there will be some jaw-on-the-floor moments too that will no doubt set Twitter ablaze again.

“We have some very cheeky cliff hangers this year frankly,” Chris says cryptically.

He added: “I hope audiences like it.”

There will be characters people already love in series two, Chris said, and those he hoped people would fall in love with, like those played by Charlotte Rampling and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

Chris said he really enjoyed the partnership between Olivia Colman and David Tennant and that it was great they were both back for series two.

He said: “I think there will be very clear mysteries and questions you will want the answers to. I hope it will be a very emotional journey.”

A few new directors joined the team this time round, including Jonathan Teplitzky, who directed The Railway Man with Colin Firth, building on the atmospheric visuals and soundscapes of the first series.

Chris once said that Broadchurch was a ‘love letter to the scenery of the Jurassic Coast’ and it seems that this series it will take centre stage once again.

He said: “Dorset is really important to Broadchurch. West Dorset is integral and will remain so.

“If anything there’s more West Dorset in Broadchurch 2.”

Chris thanked the people of West Dorset and especially West Bay, for all their ‘extraordinary’ support even when the film crews brought a little ‘chaos’ to the area when filming.

He said: “I feel the people of West Bay are part of the show.”

And he added that Tennant and Colman loved staying there and eating out in the area.

So what of a potential series three? Chris roars with laughter and says he will be having a ‘big long holiday’.

He joked: “Who knows who’s standing at the end? Who knows if I’ll be standing at the end.”

So what is next for Chris?

Clearly taking nothing for granted, he is looking forward to that holiday and is hopeful the audiences will love Broadchurch 2.

He said: “Take a break and see where we are and see how the audience respond to it. We are not taking it for granted that people will turn up for episode one.

“It is always good to take nothing for granted.”

He added: “We were so touched by the response to series one, we hope we are developing something surprising for the next series.

“Although we are not revealing much, by the end of the first episode you will understand the story we are telling.

“You will have plenty of questions.”

So it turns out the man behind the mystery and intrigue of Broadchurch has even managed to work a ‘cheeky cliff hanger’ ending into his own interview. Audience be warned.