BROADCHURCH is back. The hit show returns to ITV at 9pm on Monday.

Last summer the cast and crew once again descended on West Bay and the surrounding countryside, with the stunning scenery set to provide a backdrop to the new series.

The News got the chance to sit down with one of the new stars of the show, Julie Hesmondhalgh and producer Dan Winch.

Hesmondhalgh, best know for playing Hayley Cropper in Coronation Street, will play Trish Winterman, the victim of the serious sexual assault being investigated by Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller (played by David Tennant and Olivia Colman) and will be joined by other new cast members including Charlie Higson, who will play her husband, and Sir Lenny Henry who will play the manager of the farm shop where she works.

Mr Winch is new to the show for this series and talked about where we are in terms of when we last saw the characters.

He said: “The key story headline is that there’s a new case for Ellie and Hardy, the other key headline is that it’s three years later, three years since we left them. It’s almost true to time when we transmit.”

“We re-visit all our characters and their lives and where we left them previously and their relationships with each other, particularly Ellie and Hardy, the Latimers, what’s happened to the Millers, Hardy and his family.

“We visit all the family groups we’ve come to know and love.”

The characters, stories and West Dorset backdrop made Broadchurch a smash hit and one of the biggest programmes on television. Despite her years on one of the country’s biggest soaps, it was an opportunity that excited Hesmondhalgh.

She said: “It was a real honour to be asked to be in Broadchurch, and obviously it’s something that interests me, doing stuff that has something to say about the world and that’s a part of who I am and so I think that’s probably why I attract parts like this and it gives it an extra something for me to feel that hopefully it’s making some kind of difference.”

As iconic as the characters of the programme are, West Bay’s cliffs and the West Dorset countryside, is arguably more so.

Hesmondhalgh said: “I haven’t been to Dorset before, it’s far away from where I live so I was very excited to come. I knew the scenery was beautiful but I’ve loved it.

“The last time I came down here (for filming) I stayed at a caravan site and honestly I was so happy there. I had a little caravan right by the sea and I’d walk over the cliffs to work and to Burton Bradstock.

“I’m definitely coming back to Dorset. It’s been amazing, it really has, everyone’s looked after us and it’s lovely. I’ve had lots of hugs.”

Mr Winch said that the scenery is one of the many things that makes Broadchurch special.

He said: “What is unique about Broadchurch is it is a beautiful reflection of a landscape, and it’s a dark thing happening in a beautiful place, and that flows through to the humour we try to find, particularly between Ellie and Hardy’s characters. While we are dealing with a very sensitive and dark subject matter we also realise that our audience will want to tune in for the lighter aspects and those relationships, and the laughs they give us.”

The final series will be eight episodes long and Mr Winch said that he thinks it will give the characters a fitting send-off.

He said: “I hope everyone will feel like it’s a fitting re-visit to the characters we’ve loved My wife and I watched very little TV but one thing we’d always watch was Broadchurch. I think the nation would be gutted to miss the resolution to the community we’ve grown to love.

“There is certainly an ending.”