Broadchurch 2: What we know so far ahead of tonight's first episode

David Tennant and Olivia Colman are making their comebacks for series two

Olivia Colman and David Tennant in series two of Broadchurch (ITV)

Tonight is set to be a big one for TV fans as Broadchurch finally returns to our screens for a hotly-awaited second series.

Chris Chibnall’s award-winning crime drama is known for its mystery and as such, no-one (yes, including us) really knows anything. Here’s what has been deduced so far…

It will pick up where it left off

Teaser clips hinted in November that “the end is where it begins”, meaning the new series will be connected to the first, at least in some ways. There were even some clues to the new storyline in past episodes, according to lead star Olivia Colman.

“Chris set up a lot of things we never even thought about in the first series and now they’ve come to the fore,” she said earlier this year. “At the read-through we were going, “You sneaky b*****d”.”

Beth Latimer (Jodie Whittaker) was found to be expecting at the end of the first series and is seen heavily pregnant in the second, meaning we have probably jumped forward six months or so.

Many original cast members are returning

Main characters Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller, played by David Tennant and Olivia Colman, will both be back in their detective roles. Andrew Buchan and Jodie Whittaker will reprise their parts as murdered schoolboy Danny Latimer’s parents, while Arthur Davill returns as parish vicar Paul Coates.

Jodie Whittaker as Beth Latimer, right, and Andrew Buchan as Mark Latimer from the series 'Broadchurch' (AP Photo/BBC America, Patrick Redmond)

Read our blagger’s guide to series one for a quick who’s who of returning key characters.

There will be some exciting new faces

Charlotte Rampling, Eve Myles, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Jonathan Bailey, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Meera Syal and James D’Arcy are all joining the cast for Broadchurch series two.

Most of their roles remain unknown but D’Arcy will play a shifty character called Lee (“I want my life back,” he says angrily in the trailer) and Rampling stars as local resident Jocelyn Knight, whose house Danny argued with a postman in front a week before his murder.

The storyline could centre around two abducted girls…

While this could frankly go anywhere, the first Broadchurch series two trailer hinted at a possible abduction, with Colman seen asking children in a dark bedroom where they were on the night that two local girls disappeared.

There was some creepy footage of a girl first seen on a playground swing and then clawing at a wire fence in one clip, along with many shots of extremely stressed looking people.

Notably, said girl is seen wearing a pendant – key evidence lost while Hardy was working on a doomed case at Sandbrook before coming to Broadchurch. Perhaps we’ll be taking a look back at his crucial past mistakes.

…but it probably won’t involve another murder

But, and this is a big but, it is not thought that Broadchurch series two will focus on another murder, so you can stop all that “just another Midsomer Murders” talk.

“I promise we do not start with the discovery of another body beneath the cliffs,” Chibnall told Radio Times. “The feel of the show is slightly different this time. Grief is not our driving emotion this year.”

So there you go, no more children are to be murdered because luckily, one such tragic event in a small town is a rare enough occurrence and Chibnall wants to stay true to reality.

Bluebells and a blue chalet play important roles

Bluebells appear to be a motif in the new series as they are shown multiple times in the trailer and promotional photos.

Then there’s the creepy blue chalet which “holds lots – if not all – of the secrets” and will reportedly be introduced to us within the first minute.

There wasn’t even meant to be another series

Broadchurch was intended as a one-off but was recommissioned after attracting more than nine million viewers and winning TV awards (including Colman's Best Actress triumph at the Baftas).

How come you have barely told me anything?

As with last year’s Broadchurch, the cast were only given partial scripts while filming in an effort to keep the plot tightly under wraps and several endings were shot to keep the final one secret.

Journalists have been given no access to episodes in advance (boo) and all involved have signed confidentiality clauses.

I guess we’ll just have to wait on the edge of our seats and see what unfurls this time around.

Catch Broadchurch on ITV tonight at 9pm.