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Episode 1.3
Details
Air date 18 March 2013
Written by Chris Chibnall
Directed by Euros Lyn
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Episode 1.2 Episode 1.4

Episode 1.3 was the third episode in Series 1 of Broadchurch, focussing on Mark Latimer as main suspect.

Plot[]

A flashback shows Mark Latimer waking in the middle of the night and going to Danny's room where he finds the boy wet and crying. He hugs and comforts his son before waking in his own bed, confronted by his son's loss.

By the cottage on the cliffs, Ellie Miller meets with Alec Hardy, who speculates that the killer could have used a boat to deposit Danny's body on the beach without leaving any tracks.

In the morning, Beth Latimer looks at her belly in the bathroom, observing the place where her new child is growing. Mark interrupts her to use the bathroom, but instead texts his friend Nigel Carter, saying "You know where I was", using the noises of the bathroom to cover the sound of him typing the message.

Karen White approaches Jack Marshall to try and get information from him about Danny, since Danny worked for Jack as a paper boy, but he rebuffs her, dropping her business card in the bin.

Hardy tells Ellie to give the morning briefing at the police station, which she stumbles nervously through due to inexperience with that sort of authority. They then interrogate Mark who insists that the night of Danny's disappearance he was out drinking and eating with his co-worker, Nige. He also explaines his presence at Briar Cliffs by saying that he had fixed an old boiler there a few weeks earlier.

At the Latimer house, Pete Lawson asks Beth when Mark got home the night Danny died, in order to corroborate Mark's story, which causes her to become suspicious of Pete.

Hardy and Miller go to the marina where they check Mark's boat, The Old Boiler, and find blood stains in it. They also question Susan Wright, the woman who cleaned the cabin and held the keys, from whom Mark apparently borrowed the keys to fix the boiler. She denies that Latimer ever got the keys to the cabin from her, and denies that there was ever a burst pipe in the first place. They also question Nige about where he and Mark were on the night of Danny's death, with Nige making up a story about them going out to get food and drinks from one of the local pubs, supposedly confirming Mark's story. However, Ellie talked with Nige's mother, who said that Nige was in with her all night, and Hardy accuses Nige of being a terrible liar. When they then confront Mark with the new evidence they have collected, Mark maintains that he was telling the truth about the cabin, and refuses to explain his whereabouts the night of Danny's death. He explains the bloodstains in the boat as being from a week or so previously, when he had taken Danny and Chloe out fishing and Danny had stepped on a fish hook. Frustrated with Mark's intransigence, Alec arrests him for obstructing an investigation.

Feeling trapped in her house, Beth goes on a walk and tries to do some work at the paper but leaves quickly after her boss tells her it is too soon for her to return. She sits on a bench by the cliffs and is approached by Steve Connelly, who tells her that he has a message from Danny. Horrified, Beth runs off.

Karen and Olly Stevens approach Nige, as he was close to the Latimer family, being Mark's apprentice. Nige quickly hides a crossbow in the back of his van when he sees them. They ask him about Mark, and he provides some basic information, but quickly excuses himself, citing work as an excuse, and drives off.

Hardy interviewes Ellie's son, Tom Miller, with Joe Miller, his father, present. When questioned about how Danny got on with his father, Tom admits that Danny had told him that Mark sometimes "got in bad moods" and had hit Danny "once, maybe twice".

Beth and Chloe are told of Mark's arrest by Pete. Beth reacts badly to the news, taking Chloe into the bathroom and telling her that they cannot trust Pete, that "he's their spy", and that they must stick together. Chloe later texts someone about her father's predicament, telling them that she knew that they were with him and asking if they could help.

Hardy meets with a friend and doctor who warns him about his health, telling him that he has to leave the case or he will die from his illness. Alec confesses that he hates Broadchurch and its people, but can't leave the case there because it is penance for his failure at Sandbrook.

Beth meets with Paul Coates, who asks about the possibility of a memorial service for Danny, which could be as religious or as secular as Beth and her family wish. Later, she invites Steve over to her house, who passes on his message from Danny to not pursue the killer as it was someone close to her, and therefore the discovery of the killer's identity would be too painful.

Becca Fisher comes into the police station to tell the detectives that Mark was with her the night of Danny's death. When pushed further, she bluntly admits that the point of the meeting was so that they could "have sex". When confronted with her confession, Mark admits to the infidelity, saying that it was a mistake and the only time it has happened despite multiple opportunities he's been given.

Hardy returns to The Trader's Hotel, where he is staying, and sees Karen White. She angrily derides him for his failures in the Sandbrook case, telling him that "that family lacks closure" because of his failure. She tells him that she is not going to let him do the same thing in Broadchurch.

As they lay in bed unable to sleep, Beth questions Mark about where he was the night Danny died. When he puts off telling her, she asks him if he killed Danny. Mark angrily denies the accusations and storms out of the house. He goes down to the waterfront where he meets with Becca. She says that what they did was a mistake, but Mark says that it wasn't for him. "If it wasn't then it is now," she replies. As the two kiss, the camera pans away to reveal Beth watching them, stunned.

That night out on the sea near the beach where Danny was found, a fire consumes a boat.

Cast[]

Cast in order of apparance:

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