Broadchurch ‘child killer’: Olivia Colman sent me jokes in the dock

Broadchurch cast members passed round hand-written jokes on set to distract themselves from the dark storyline, one of its stars revealed today.

Matthew Gravelle, who plays murder suspect Joe Miller, said Olivia Colman and David Tennant helped to lift his mood while filming the TV drama about the killing of 11-year-old Danny Latimer.

Gravelle’s character is on trial in the second series, and many scenes were filmed with the actor in a protective glass box inside the court. He said: “Between takes you try and lighten to mood or it would just get you down so badly. It was actually good fun on the set — at least the people on the other side of the glass looked as though they were having a lot of fun. I was isolated in my glass box but Olivia and the other guys did try and include me and pass little messages through the glass. It certainly made things a lot easier.”

After an acclaimed first series, the latest instalment of Broadchurch has seen ratings fall. The first episode had 7.6 million viewers but Monday’s drew only 5.8 million. Gravelle, 38, said: “Expectations were always going to be high. All you could do is your best and be as real as you could be.”