Investigating Broadchurch as a terrain of struggle: The cultural and political potential of British television crime drama

Abstract

British television crime drama offers fertile ground for discussion by reflecting on the politics of crime, society, family, environment, marketing and tourism. Broadchurch (2013–17) playfully engages with the conventions of the popular genre of the whodunit. Cashing in on the series’ popularity, screen tourism zooms in on a heritage space that disregards and ignores any unsettling social concerns. It is indeed sobering, if not disillusioning, to realize that today’s reconfigurations of the whodunit continue to uphold a nostalgic longing for an idealized past. However, in a cultural studies project, it is too easy a solution and too simplistic an argument to claim that the whodunit falls short of dismantling any such conservative ideology. Bearing in mind Stuart Hall’s statement that the popular is a terrain of struggle between both radical and conservative elements, the reconfigured whodunit is simultaneously escapist and topical. Television crime drama proves so popular in current times of political instability, economic inequality and social polarization precisely because it both fulfils the viewers’ desire for comfort and closure, and engages them in public debate about pressing sociopolitical issues.