The Coroner

The Coroner
First episode titlecard
Genre	Drama
Created by	Sally Abbott
Starring	Claire Goose Matt Bardock
Composer	Debbie Wiseman
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Will Trotter
Producer	Sandra McIver
Cinematography	Richard Mahoney Chris Preston
Running time	45 minutes
Production company	BBC Birmingham
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	16 November 2015 (2015-11-16) – present

The Coroner is a daytime drama series produced by BBC Birmingham, starring Claire Goose as solicitor Jane Kennedy as she takes over the job of coroner in a South Devon coastal town she left as a teenager. Matt Bardock stars as Detective Sergeant Davey Higgins who was Kennedy's childhood sweetheart, and together they investigate local deaths.

Plot

Jane Kennedy is a high-flying solicitor; after another failed relationship, she returns to the small South Devon seaside town she left as a teenager to take up the post of Coroner. She finds herself working with Davey Higgins, the boy who broke her heart and is now the local Detective Sergeant. Jane and Davey investigate any sudden, violent or unexplained deaths in the fictional world of Lighthaven, based originally on Salcombe in the South Hams district of Devon. Kennedy is assisted by Clint Holman. Her mother Judith, her mother's boyfriend, pub owner, Mick Sturrock and Kennedy's 15 year old daughter Beth also feature in the single episode stories.

Characters

Jane Kennedy (Claire Goose) is a coroner who after another failed relationship returns to her home town of Lighthaven and her mothers home. She is good at her job and running the home but has trust issues with her daughter and her staff which means she gets involved in cases more than a coroner normally would.

Davey Higgins (Matt Bardock) is the childhood sweetheart of Jane and the reason she left Lighhaven. He is married to Annette (not unhappily just to the wrong person) and would never betray his wife. He is a Detective Sergeant with the South Dart Police.

Judith Kennedy (Beatie Edney) is Jane's mother and is confident and happy with her boyfriend Mick.

Mick Sturrock (Ivan Kaye) landlord of the local public house "The Black Dog". He’s loud, rude, funny and very dodgy with his finger in every pie and can supply anything; fags, booze, watches or information. He adores Judith but is less keen on Jane who accidentally set fire to his pub when she was younger and got him investigated by the Inland Revenue.

Clint Holman (Oliver Gomm) is in his mid twenties, good with computers, a slacker and keen surfer. He is the Coroner’s Officer who normally carries out the investigations but with an allergy to dead bodies and Jane with her trust issues which makes her insist on leading the investigations.

Beth Kennedy (Grace Hogg-Robinson) 15 year old daughter of Jane, a goth obsessed with death with Jane’s same sense of fairness and doing the right thing.

Production

Conception

Sally Abbott created The Coroner from an idea by Will Trotter, executive producer and head of BBC Drama Birmingham, about a woman coroner aged about 40 and in a location such as the Cotswolds or Devon. The series would have self contained stories with drama and humour; a formulae successfully used in Father Brown from the same production team. The two lead characters Jane and Davey were based on Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey in "Adams Rib" with the unresolved sexual tension between them. Abbott wrote the Davey character with Matt Bardock in mind. She created four other characters to complete the cast.

Filming

Filming took place from April 2015 at locations around South Devon including Dartmouth, Torquay, and Broadsands Beach, Paignton. The Mansion, now a community building, in Totnes was used as the Coroners Court. A brass plate was attached to the brickwork. The Old Customs House in Bayard's Cove, Dartmouth was used as the Coroners Office. The exterior and interior of Oldway Mansion is used as Lighthaven town hall.

Because of difficult access at Salcombe for film crews and equipment, Dartmouth became the location of the Coroners office at Bayards Cove and focus of the series. The production office was located at Dartington where some interior scenes were filmed. Filming began in mid April for 15 weeks (75 filming days). The episodes were divided into blocks of two with the same director, assistant director, and director of photography.

Cast

• Claire Goose as Jane Kennedy
• Matt Bardock as Detective Sergeant Davey Higgins
• Beatie Edney as Judith Kennedy
• Ivan Kaye as Mick Sturrock
• Oliver Gomm as Clint Holman
• Grace Hogg-Robinson as Beth Kennedy

Episodes

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"First Love"	Ian Barber	Sally Abbott	16 November 2015 (2015-11-16)
A 17 year old teenager, Steve Kernan, is found dead at the foot of a tower and Detective Sergeant Davey Higgins believes it was a suicide, but Jane thinks there is more to the case than meets the eye as the investigation uncovers an abusive father, a pregnant girlfriend with a possessive father and Kernan's best friend, Matt Wickens, who was with Beth Kennedy the night Kernan died.
2	2	"How to Catch a Lobster"	Matt Carter	Al Smith	17 November 2015 (2015-11-17)
When a third body washes up on shore in a month, Jane is convinced it is a botched sea burial, but Davey believes it is a local man lost at sea in the last fortnight. Both are determined to prove each other wrong and as the facts emerge regarding a £75,000 robbery at a local casino, a fake Rolex watch and a tattoo on the missing man's body the truth emerges. Clint Holman who has been seeking information from three undertakers, who are rivals and look to the Coroner for business, provides a clue.
3	3	"That's the Way to Do It"	Matt Carter	David Bowker	18 November 2015 (2015-11-18)
The body of a Punch and Judy man is found drowned on the beach. The day before he had been closed down by Una Drake, mayor of Lighthaven. Later she is found murdered in a hotel room. Davey and Jane look for a connection between the two deaths from the dead man's drunken friend, the hotel singer and gigolo, the mayor's daughter, and the mayor's estranged husband.
4	4	"The Fisherman's Tale"	Ian Barber	Ann Marie Di Mambro	19 November 2015 (2015-11-19)
Peter Bradshaw at the reopening of his first fish restaurant is shot dead by a hired sniper. Davey's investigation is undermined by Detective Inspector Ben Marshall from Scotland Yard who believes the killing has international connections. Bradshaw's wife had recently withdrawn £100,000, pink diamonds they owned are missing. A male lover of Bradshaw' surfaces and an old army colleague who has an alibi. Jane's mother Judith while eating an ice cream bumped into the killer leaving a vital link
5	5	"Gilt"	Ian Barber	Kit Lambert	20 November 2015 (2015-11-20)
6	6	"Capsized"	Adrian Bean	Matthew Cooke and Vincent Lund	23 November 2015 (2015-11-23)
7	7	"The Salcombe Selkie"	Ian Barber	Dan Muirden	24 November 2015 (2015-11-24)
8	8	"Napolleon's Violin"	Adrian Bean	Sally Abbott	25 November 2015 (2015-11-25)
9	9	"The Deep Freeze"	Niall Fraser	Sally Abbott	26 November 2015 (2015-11-26)
10	10	"Dirty Dancing"	Niall Fraser	Ann Marie Di Mambro	27 November 2015 (2015-11-27)