Season 1 of Broadchurch premiered on ITV on March 4, 2013, immediately garnering strong reviews from critics and audiences alike. Focusing on the seismic impact of Danny Latimer's (Oskar McNamara) death, the initial eight episodes show the grief experienced by his family and how the community grapples with the sudden death.

Season 1 of Broadchurch was predominantly filmed on the Jurassic Coast, a World Heritage Site stretching from Devon to Dorset. The Harbour Cliff Beach and the East Beach car park are some of the coastal locations where the crew got to work.

The Folly, an apartment block with a modern feel in West Bay, Dorset, the Quay West underground car park, and the Harbour Newsagent moonlight as the Broadchurch Police Station, the Broadchurch Police Car Park, and the Broadchurch Newsagent, respectively. West Bay lists the Methodist Chapel and the Coastguard Cottages on East Beach, and the Chesil House as other filming locations in Dorset.

According to the outlet, shooting also took place at the North Somerset parish of Clevedon, the nearby town of Portishead, the town of Yate in South Gloucestershire, and Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset.

The crew returned to some of the spots for Season 2, carrying out a considerable percentage of the principal of photography in West Bay, Dorset and Clevedon, North Somerset once more. Reading and Bracknell, both in Berkshire, Bristol (the most populous city in South West England), and Exeter in Devon have also served as filming locations.