Still Rewatching Broadchurch? You're Missing Tennant's Best Work
If you're still stuck rewatching Broadchurch for the sixth time, we get it — but you're missing the best performance David Tennant's ever given, and it's not even close.
Back in 2020, Tennant quietly dropped one of the most chilling roles of his career in Des, a bleak three-part miniseries about real-life Scottish serial killer Dennis Nilsen. There were no Daleks, no time travel, no beachside crime scenes — just dismembered body parts in drainpipes and a performance so disturbingly locked-in, Tennant had to isolate himself from the rest of the cast to get through it.
Not ringing a bell? That's because Des came and went without the massive marketing push it deserved. But here's what you're missing:
What is Des?
A three-part true-crime drama that aired on ITV in September 2020, directed entirely by Broadchurch alum Lewis Arnold. It tells the story of Dennis Nilsen, who murdered at least six (and possibly up to 12) young men in London between 1978 and 1983. He was finally caught when human remains clogged up the plumbing in his building.
Tennant plays Nilsen with such icy detachment it's almost unbearable to watch — and that's the point. He doesn't try to make the character "interesting" or sympathetic. He plays him like a void in human form.
Hard numbers:
- First aired: September 2020 (ITV)
- Episodes: 3
- Rotten Tomatoes scores: 90% from critics, 97% audience
- International Emmy Awards: David Tennant, Best Actor (2021)
Showrunner Luke Neal recalled how Tennant got involved when nobody else was biting:
"At this point, we'd had no interest from production companies... And he [Tennant] said that he wanted to attach himself. Which, ultimately, it's no exaggeration to say that he got this made."
The show flips the usual true-crime formula. Nilsen gets arrested in the very first episode — no mystery, no twist ending. Instead, Des focuses on the psychological toll the case takes on the police (played by Daniel Mays) and legal team (Jason Watkins), and how someone could murder for years with no one noticing.
Tennant isn't trying to entertain you here. He's showing you exactly what makes evil so mundane — and that's what makes it so effective. He also looks unsettlingly like the real Nilsen, which critics didn't miss.
And if you're sick of shows that drag out a five-episode story over ten hours, Des is your antidote. One director. Three episodes. No filler. It's clean, focused, and far more disturbing than anything the MCU will ever put out.
Des is streaming now on AMC+ and BritBox. Just don't expect to sleep right after.