History YMMV / Broadchurch

* TheScrappy: The defense lawyers in Series 2, who bizarrely appear to be positively gleeful about the prospect of making a clearly guilty man a KarmaHoudini. It also seriously doesn't help that the entire trial is absurdly slanted in their favor, with the judge allowing them to go off on all kinds of wild speculations without a shred of evidence at the same time the prosecution is constantly admonished to stick to the facts.

* {{Narm}}: Lee Ashford's love of standing on distant hills to threateningly stare at people. It works pretty well the first time, but then he just keeps doing it until it's impossible to take seriously. Especially when he appears to sprinted like his life depended on it to get in position a few seconds after ringing Claire's doorbell to drop her favorite dish off.

** Ellie. [[spoiler: In season 2 she has been demoted to a traffic cop, her oldest son will not talk to her and almost the whole town has given her the cold shoulder]].

** "I know men who'd rape you!" The line is completely over the top, and doesn't lead to anything later. [[spoiler: It is brought back during the trial thought.]]

* TheWoobie: Jack. [[spoiler:Got jailed and his reputation tarnished for a consensual relationship. He married his lover only for their son to die at a young age. He moves to Broadchurch to start anew only for his conviction to resurface and get twisted, culminating in the town turning on him and forming a ''lynch mob'' when some former members of his club provide some maligned "evidence" to him being a pedophile. And even after he reveals the truth, his house is vandalized and he gets a picture of his dead son and ex-wife thrown into his face. He's DrivenToSuicide, and to rub salt in the wound we get to hear Chloe complain about how she doesn't care about his funeral since she never liked him anyway, and nobody pays for basically hounding him to his death.]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Some fans didn't take to the reveal in Series 1 that [[spoiler:Hardy took the blame for his wife's mistake]], saying it was pointlessly self-sacrificing to absurd levels. Then in Series 2 we find out [[spoiler:he was also having an affair, which could have blown the case itself due to being with a witness]], making it a "but for the grace of god" situation for him that could well have led to that decision.

** The Latimers make a big deal about the fact that their 15-year-old daughter is dating a 17-year-old. This seems weird to them because the boy is am adult. In many places, both are still seen as minors, so it doesn't seem like such a big deal.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[spoiler:Ellie]]'s return home to collect her things in the final episode is a very poignant scene until she detours into the living room to step on a slug. Was it meant to convey rage, tragedy, senselessness? The problem here is it's tough to combine a squashed slug with piano music and slo-mo.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Alec Hardy began suffering from a heart illness [[spoiler: right after his wife cheated on him and ruined his career by losing some highly important evidence while meeting with her lover.]] An almost literal case of broken heart.

** Jack makes a point to note that [[spoiler:had we waited a few weeks for a 15-year-old girl's birthday, their romance would be perfectly legal. In many places, the girl was more than two years too young to be having sex with any adult, even ignoring the fact that he was 40]].

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** [[spoiler:Ellie]]'s return home to collect her things in the final episode is a very poignant scene until she detours into the living room to step on a slug. Was it meant to convey rage, tragedy, senselessness? The problem here is it's tough to combine a squashed slug with piano music and slo-mo.

* TearJerker: When Beth Latimer asks Tom Miller for a hug.

* ValuesDissonance: Jack's [[spoiler:marrying and having a child with a 17 year old girl]] is already a bit icky in England, but even worse in America where [[spoiler:17 is below the legal age of consent in ten states]]. Less seriously, a 15 year old girl dating a 17 year old boy is seen as no big deal in America for the same reason. Naturally, these details had to be tweaked a bit in the American adaptation ''Series/{{Gracepoint}}''.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: "I know men who'd rape you!" The line is completely over the top, and doesn't lead to anything later.

* ValuesDissonance: Jack's [[spoiler:marrying and having a child with a 17 year old girl]] is already a bit icky in England, but even worse in America where [[spoiler:17 is below the legal age of consent in ten states]]. Less seriously, a 15 year old girl dating a 17 year old boy is seen as no big deal in America for the same reason. Naturally, these details had to be tweaked a bit in the American adaptation ''{{Gracepoint}}''.

* ValuesDissonance: Jack's [[spoiler:marrying and having a child with a 17 year old girl]] is already a bit icky in England, but even worse in America where [[spoiler:17 is below the legal age of consent]]. Less seriously, a 15 year old girl dating a 17 year old boy is seen as no big deal in America for the same reason. Naturally, these details had to be tweaked a bit in the American adaptation ''{{Gracepoint}}''.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: "I know men who'd rape you!"

* ValuesDissonance: Jack's [[spoiler:marrying and having a child with a 17 year old girl]] is already a bit icky in England, but even worse in America where [[spoiler:17 is below the legal age of consent]]. Less seriously, a 15 year old girl dating a 17 year old boy is seen as no big deal in America for the same reason.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: Alec Hardy began suffering from a heart illness [[spoiler: right after his wife cheated on him and ruined his career by losing some highly important evidence while meeting with her lover.]] An almost litteral case of broken heart.