For those of us who watched and loved the limited eight-episode series “Broadchurch” when it played last summer on BBC America, with its wave of grief and human frailties, multiple mysteries and shifting targets of suspects, there seemed no reason to remake it in America.
British TV is often remade in idea-starved U.S.; originals never make it to network TV because somebody thinks that people here don’t understand British accents. The shows are rarely done better; at best they take some of the basic ideas and go their own direction, as did “The Office.”
But in the new “Gracepoint” (Fox, 9 p.m.), the title and country are about the only changes. The gripping tale of a murdered boy has so many similar elements and story points, maybe the same shots. The very cliff where the victim is found seems to be the same. But absolutely the same, perversely, is the actor who plays the main detective, David Tennant.
He has no Scottish accent here, but he is new to the small town, investigating its first murder in years, although hiding an illness that may drop him at any time. Alongside him, Anna Gunn, most recently the award-winning wife on “Breaking Bad,” is more glamorous than the excellent Olivia Coleman in the original, but Gunn gets quite good in her role as detective whose own son was pals with the victim.
It’s funny to see who stands in for who in the seemingly needless remake, including gruff voiced Nick Nolte for the seaside figure played by David Bradley (who presided over the Red Wedding on “Game of Thrones” and is currently the old guy in “The Strain).
But it is by no means a terrible thing to watch. It’s encouraging that American network TV obviously thinks as highly of the original “Broadchurch” to handle it so carefully, and to initially change so few things about it. If it’s a hit, it may teach them something about slowing down a story and drawing out characters, whereas an “SVU” version of this would have four more victims and a resolution in 44 minutes.
The sense of place and use of music are such that one wants to linger, even (for the very few of us who watched the original) if you feel like you’ve been here before. Like a good movie, or a very few TV series, it rewards a repeat viewing, although in this case it’s by a mostly different cast. It’s rather like seeing a different production of a favorite play.
“Gracepoint” producers say that things will begin to deviate from the original, so much so that the killer will be different (which is quite a declaration to make; nobody else has been so definitely eliminated). But seven episodes in, I can tell you that things keep quite similar to the British series in a number of the major turns. This, I repeat, is not a bad thing.
There is an introduction of another possible suspect and at the end of these episodes, something happens that indicates that the thing might go a different direction (and quite possibly off the rails) as they promised. But by then, there is so much investment in the characters — and so little else to watch among dramas on network TV — that we’ll stick around to see what happens.
Meantime, a second season of “Gracepoint” has been shooting in the UK; BBC America says it will show here next year. Tennant, appearing in both, will doubtless look even more exhausted.