David Tennant: His 6 Best TV Roles

5. Alec Hardy €“ Broadchurch

Broadchurch When you stick Olivia Colman and David Tennant into a high-value dramatic production, it's only natural that you're going to get something utterly superlative. Augmented by a stellar supporting cast featuring Arthur Darvill, Pauline Quirke and David Bradley, the reliably awesome duo provide the bones on which the outstanding dramatic meat is set. Obviously, Colman is never acted off-screen €“ how could that ever happen? €“ and matches Tennant blow-for-blow, but when something's this good, there's no point keeping score. Instead, it's best to sit back and watch truly exceptional TV in action. Make no mistake, this was terrific stuff, centring on the murder of a young boy in a fictional Devonshire town. Playing the physically and professionally ravaged detective in charge of the case, Tennant oozes damaged charisma, and it's astonishing to watch the effect the series' shocking turns have on him. Frankly, the copper-with-a-backstory trope is one of TV's most massively overused dramatic devices, but it's down to Tennant's considerable acting prowess that he's able to make this work. His Alec Hardy certainly has demons, but the whole damaged shtick never gets old and actually compliments his fish-out-of-water persona. The role has gone down as one of Tennant's best €“ he scored a TV Choice award off the back of this, and received a nomination at the prestigious Europe-wide Monte Carlo Television Festival. I'd say it was well deserved, and he's going to be reprising the role for the hotly-anticipated US version.
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Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.