Posted in: BBC, Doctor Who, TV | Tagged: broadchurch, doctor who

Broadchurch: Chris Chibnall Puts to Rest Series Return Rumblings

If you've been hoping that the David Tennant and Olivia Colman-starring Broadchurch would return, Chris Chibnall is putting that to rest.

Published Thu, 15 Jan 2026 09:07:06 -0600

by Adi Tantimedh

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Article Summary

Chris Chibnall confirms Broadchurch will not return for a fourth series, calling it a complete story.
Chibnall’s first novel, Death at the White Hart, is set in a Broadchurch-adjacent location with new characters.
The novel explores the murder of a pub owner and hints at a planned TV adaptation from Chibnall.
Chibnall imagines Hardy and Miller’s lives after the series, capturing the enduring impact of Broadchurch.

Chris Chibnall is a surprisingly prolific showrunner, and the series that really put him on the map is his murder mystery series Broadchurch, which starred David Tennant in his first major role after he left Doctor Who, and Olivia Coleman as grumpy mismatched cops (isn't that every Brit cop on TV?) investigating a murder in a seaside town that ends up hitting closer to home than they imagined. It captured the British viewing public's imagination and was the hottest TV series during its run on ITV. It landed him the job of showrunning Doctor Who, and he cast Jodie Whittaker as The Doctor because of her work on Broadchurch. Chibnall still gets asked if there would be a fourth season after its three seasons that ran from 2013 to 2017, and he has put that question to rest once and for all.

"No, I don't think so. I mean, it's so complete, and I think we've sort of toyed with ideas or sometimes, because I live near the beach where Broadchurch took place, I'll be walking along, and I was like, 'Oh, maybe that or this,'" Chibnall told TV Insider. "I wrote a novel last year called Death at the White Hart. And that was really my dipping my toe back into the waters around Broadchurch. It's a Broadchurch adjacent novel, set in the same place, different characters."

Death at the White Hart is Chibnall's first novel, a murder mystery set in Fleetcombe, which features the investigation of the local pub owner's death, tied to a chair in the middle of the road with a stag's antlers on his head. Detective Nicola Bridge returns to the village where she grew up and partners up with the younger DC Harry Ward. The book even got a blurb from Reacher creator Lee Child, who wrote, "Layered, human, suspenseful and surprising – this guy knows how to tell a story, that's for sure."

Chibnall thought about what could have been next for Hardy and Miller in that novel, which he plans to adapt into a TV series. "I think that to scratch that itch, just go, there are other people who are living just down five miles down the coast. Let's go and see what they think of the world now," he said. "The world changes, doesn't it? As the world changes, sometimes you think about, oh, I wonder what those characters would think about that, or I wonder if something like that had happened. It's a very different world."

"I think sometimes you capture lightning in a bottle with the show, and I think we did that with Broadchurch, and it's just really great to let that sit, I think," Chibnall continued. "And people still are rediscovering it now, so it's really lovely."

As for Hardy and Miller? "I think they're still bickering on that bench," said Chibnall. "I really do, where we left them. Hardy, he'll be retired now. He'll be out of the police. So maybe he's a private detective somewhere."

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