David Tennant’s controversial crime drama remake now streaming on Amazon Prime

A controversial remake of one of Britain’s best-loved crime series has unexpectedly resurfaced on UK streaming thanks to Amazon Prime Video.

Starring David Tennant, 2014 detective drama Gracepoint was a remake of Broadchurch – which also starred Tennant – and originally premiered in the USA.

The remake was controversial, with many questioning why the US would bother remaking a show that was exactly the same – even with Tennant returning to seemingly play the exact same character.

Broadchurch starred Tennant alongside Olivia Colman and ran for three seasons between 2013 and 2017, becoming popular in the UK and around the world.

It was nominated for a handful of Baftas and National TV awards and even secured a Peabody in America for its contributions to ‘excellence in quality in TV’. Gracepoint was met with rather fewer accolades but was still well received by audiences.

Gracepoint was created by Broadchurch lead writer Chris Chibnall and only ran for one season consisting of 10 episodes, with the plan for it to always be a limited series.

Where the original Broadchurch series was set in the titular fictional British town in Dorset, Gracepoint was filmed around Canada’s southwest coastline in British Columbia and set in California.

And now UK fans of Broadchurch, who’ve been pining for something like the series ever since it came to an end in 2017, can get a hit of the good stuff on Amazon Prime Video.

The series has dropped in full on the major streaming platform, and has been recommended to fans of new series The Assassin and James Nesbitt series The Missing.

According to Amazon, Gracepoint begins ‘when a young boy is found dead on an idyllic beach,’ throwing a small town in California – and the lives of its residents – into chaos.

The synopsis continues: ‘A major police investigation gets underway in the small California seaside town where the tragedy occurred. Soon deemed a homicide, the case sparks a media frenzy.

‘[The investigation] throws the boy’s family into further turmoil,’ the description concludes. ‘And upends the lives of all of the town’s residents.’

Calling it an ‘unusual situation’ to be starring in both Broadchurch and Gracepoint, Tennant told Deadline at the time that both his roles felt ‘quite different’.

He added: ‘It’s the same character, and yet it’s not. It’s probably easier for objective observers to point out how they differ, but they feel very different to me.’

However, on release, some fans couldn’t quite get over Gracepoint’s similarities to Broadchurch, which would run for another two seasons after Gracepoint ended.

@ByNillEarts said on X: ‘I discovered the American remake of Broadchurch called Gracepoint… which is a less cool version of Broadchurch.’

@SeptembersSong asked: ‘I always wonder why David Tennent agreed to play the lead actor in two series that for all intents and purpose were the same.’

However, the show had its defenders, especially among the Tennant fandom. @CooperHiller said: ‘Broadchurch was so popular that they made an American version called Gracepoint and kept David Tennant.’

@KikiBestOf18 said the Doctor Who star was ‘as brilliant in Gracepoint as in Broadchurch,’ and added that they were a fan of Gracepoint despite preferring Broadchurch.

As well as giving Tennant top billing, Gracepoint also stars Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn, Hollywood star Michael Pena, and Big Little Lies actress Virginia Kull.

However, while Broadchurch was a critical and commercial hit, Gracepoint received a more lukewarm reaction from viewers and critics when it aired in 2014.

The series received a mostly positive review score of 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 5.9 out of 10 – although 74% of users on the aggregator site said they would recommend it.

Over on Metacritic, the series received a score of 62 out of 100 – praise from TV analysts mostly came for Tennant and Gunn in their two lead roles.

Watch Gracepoint on Amazon Prime Video.

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