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Having viewed Broadchurch through the lens of Tönnies’ theory of communal vs. associational societies, it is important to highlight again the fact that Tönnies’ model refers to “ideal types and not categories of classification” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Thus, my analysis does not aim to present the town as a traditional rural community of the 19^th century, refusing to face up to the challenges of 21^st-century England. It intends to show that the core values and the essential social structures of the town as presented in the series are that of a communal society in Tönnies’ terms, bound together by personal relations, natural feeling, and a traditional moral common ground. Neither the town nor the detectives who represent the conflicting facets of the community are averse to modern efficiency, rationality, and a professionalisation of institutional processes. What they resent and oppose is a change of the essence of the community, of a threatening transition from the essential will holding the town together to an arbitrary will.

The series skilfully employs both the ‘Englishness’ of golden-age crime fiction and the dark melancholy of Scandinavian genre traditions to produce an intriguing combination of nostalgia and hope, of social decline and a belief in the individual moral compass and the prevailing of personal human bonds in families and local communities. Alec Hardy tells Lee, one of the murderers of Sandbrook: “Ultimately, we’re all alone.” (S2/E8, 00:18) Later, Ellie corrects him: “I think you’re wrong, by the way […]. We’re not all alone.” Alec’s reply – “I hope you’re right, Miller” (S2/E8, 00:35) – sums up the tentative, doubtful optimism that the struggles of the community and of the detectives convey throughout the series. The very last scene of the third season shows Beth and Ellie and their children together, united by the bonds of family and friendship. Series two ends with a similar scene, but with Mark Latimer as part of the group. By the end of the third season he has left the town, unable to come to terms with his son’s death and his own sense of guilt. Throughout the series, the community is shown to uphold rather traditional gender roles, and within this framework, women have the central role of keeping together the family. Ultimately, the last scene suggests, it is their unspectacular daily practice of personal relationships and care that will keep the community alive.

Such moments in the series certainly verge on the sentimental, just as the symbolic celebrations of communal spirit that bring the town together in support of the victims of crime. However, within the internal logic of the series, they tip the balance in favour of the traditional values of the community that appreciate the individual as a person and place personal bonds and solidarity above all else. The criminal investigations show the troubling aspects of these traditional values, which can be restrictive, or even oppressive, and can lead to self-righteousness and double standards. The investigations also demonstrate that human nature is flawed, and that underneath respectability and social cohesion, there will always be individual acts of egotism and betrayal. Nonetheless, these revelations do not expose the traditional values as illusionary; they merely show that these values require constant care and attention, as well as sacrifices from individual members of the community. The two long-suffering detectives at the core of the series fully realise the fragility of this system, but maintain that it is worth protecting in the face of profound changes in the general social and moral structure of the country.