If you saw the movie Finding Forrester, you probably remember the scene where Jamal was having a hard time coming up with a story. William decided to help him by letting him write a few of the same sentences in his story in order for him to get started in writing his own story. Of course, this lead to questions of plagiarism by Jamal’s teacher but if you saw the movie, you know that William didn’t have a problem with this.
This brings me to a TV show on the BBC Network called Broadchurch. It’s a story about the murder of a young boy in a small town and how there is a media frenzy because they want the murder to be solved by the police. The show is slow moving, going through the people in the town to see who the suspects are while the media tries to get the scoop on who the suspect is.
This plot may sound familiar to you because in October, Fox will have their new show out called Gracepoint. What may surprise you is that this show is also about the murder of a young boy in a small town and the media frenzy continues because they want the murder to be solved.
The similarities will be obvious. The first two episodes of Gracepoint will be the same as Broadchurch. If that isn’t enough, the police chief that leads the investigation in Broadchurch will play the same part in Gracepoint. Yes, David Tennant, the star of Broadchurch, will play the exact same part in Gracepoint.
After the first two episodes, Fox says that the show will veer off on it’s own. Yes, everything is supposed to remain the same as Broadchurch, from the murder on the beach, all the way to the press conference. After that, the show will move in another direction. Even the killer will be different in Broadchurch than in Gracepoint.
My thoughts on Broadchurch was that I enjoyed the series. It was a slow moving series which led you through twists and turns in determining who the suspects are and in many cases, in the wrong direction. I didn’t get to see the last two episodes but if you’re a fan of a character driven mystery like I am, this is a series that you would enjoy.
It’s hard to say what Fox will do but to me, I don’t think that this is a good idea. Yes, there have been other shows that have been ripped off such as The Office on NBC and House of Cards, which is on Netflix. In this case though, the shows are more closely related.
Think about it. If you’re a writer for example, do you pick up a book and write the first two chapters word for word, then go off on your own and say it’s my story? No, you wouldn’t get away with it. You would be accused of plagiarism. Yet, it seems to me that the standards of writing on TV have gone even lower now.
Fox believes that a lot of people did not watch Broadchurch on their cable network so there should be a huge audience. I won’t be one of those people since I have easy access to the BBC shows on my cable network through TIme Warner. Contrary to what the Fox producers may think, I do watch Orphan Black, Luther, and Broadchurch. Season 2 of Broadchurch will be on soon.
I would give Broadchurch five stars. The producers were very creative in putting a lot of hard work into this series. It’s a shame that there aren’t enough shows out there for Fox to bring out since they have to do this now. \
Ron Hummer
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