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| “ | I'm sick of hiding. | „ |
| ~ Joe reveals himself as Danny's killer. |
| “ | I am not that man! I never touched you! I never touched Tom and I never will, do you understand?! You should not say those things about me! I helped you! And you won't spoil it! You do not spoil it! | „ |
| ~ Joe furiously yells at Danny as he strangles him. |
Joseph Michael "Joe" Miller is the main antagonist of the ITV mystery series Broadchurch. He is the husband of Ellie Miller, the father of Tom and Fred Miller, and the killer of Danny Latimer.
He was portrayed by Matthew Gravelle.
Biography[]
Background[]
Joe Miller was once a paramedic, and he met his would-be wife Ellie during his time as one. While he generally did a decent job as a paramedic, one of his former co-workers claimed during his trial that he once assaulted and nearly killed another person.
Season 1[]
After 11-year-old Danny Latimer was beaten by his father Mark at home, Joe befriended Danny and started inviting him over to a hut near a beach in Broadchurch for "cuddling sessions", with the implication that he was planning to groom him. During those meetings, Joe gave Danny a new cell phone and money. In Joe's final meeting with Danny, the latter began to grow sick of the sessions and threatened to tell on Joe. He then questioned why Joe couldn't do the things he did with him to his son Tom instead, prompting Joe to fly into a rage and choke Danny, accidentally killing him. Realizing what he had done, Joe destroyed all evidence that pointed to him being Danny's killer, and he dumped his body (along with his skateboard, which was later retrieved by Susan Wright) on the beach and returned home, horrified by what he did.
Throughout most of the season, Joe hid his identity as Danny's murderer while the rest of the town grew hostile and pointed fingers. This even resulted in the suicide of Jack Marshall (the owner of the Sea Brigade who was revealed to have had a relationship with a student, albeit after she was an adult graduate). After multiple other people (including Danny's own father) were suspected as the killer, Joe grew tired of hiding, so he lured Detective Alec Hardy into a cathedral, wanting to privately confess to being Danny's killer. However, when he saw his wife Ellie accompany Alec, he escaped, not wanting his wife to know. Eventually, Alec was given Joe's laptop, which had been damaged by Tom and then discovered by the local priest Paul Coates, and found out that Danny had been emailing Joe before his death. He asked Joe his shoe size, and when Joe confirmed it to be the same size as the person who escaped from the cathedral earlier, Alec's suspicion in him grew. Finally, Joe enabled the location tracker on Danny's cell phone (which he had taken), and Alec tracked him down in a shed near his house, where Joe uttered, "I'm sick of hiding." Alec subsequently arrested him. At the police station, Alec informed Ellie that her husband was Danny's killer. In a fit of rage, Ellie brutally assaulted Joe.
While Joe was in custody, Mark visited him and coldly told him that he was nothing.
Season 2[]
After spending a period of time in custody, Joe was taken into court. But to everyone's dismay, he pleaded not guilty, resulting in a long, hard, and outrageous trial. At the end of the season, he was found innocent, but even though he did not go to prison, he was confronted by his wife Ellie and Danny's mother Beth Latimer in the very hut where he killed Danny. They threatened to kill him in the hut too and dump his body on the beach before declaring that they were not like him. They instead forced him to leave the town on pain of death.
Trivia[]
- In the Gracepoint remake he is played by Josh Hamilton, who instead of killing Danny as in the original series, blamed himself to protect his son Tom.
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 Villains
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The Murder of Danny Latimer The Sandbrook Case The Rape of Trish Winterman Others | ||