Newsbeat meets the Broadchurch 'killer'

Broadchurch stars Olivia Colman and David Tennant

**SPOILER ALERT: If you are not up-to-date with Broadchurch series one, don't read on.**

Two years ago you could be forgiven for not knowing who Matthew Gravelle was, even Broadchurch fans might have struggled to recognise him.

Until the final episode of series one.

Gasps reverberated around the UK when it was revealed that Joe Miller, the seemingly kind and caring on-screen husband of Olivia Colman, was the Broadchurch resident who had killed Danny Latimer.

At the very end of series one, ITV confirmed the drama would return but Matthew has spent nearly two years pretending he wasn't part of any of it.

The 38-year-old told Newsbeat: "I had to deny that I was doing the second series since filming started, if not before.

"That's a good year of technically being 'unemployed', even though I wasn't.

"Only a very close-knit group knew the truth; my wife, my dad and my sisters, and that was it."

But surely isn't it that the beauty of Broadchurch?

Producers are so desperate to keep the audience guessing that they even put special measures in place during filming to stop leaks.

"The secrecy certainly helps," said Matthew. "It's the anticipation and the excitement; nobody knows what's going on or is able to spoil it for anyone else."

Nearly eight million tuned into the first episode of the new series.

By uttering the words 'not guilty' to a crime fans are sure he committed, Joe Miller fast became one of the most hated men on TV.

With so many people emotionally involved in the story, we asked Matthew if anyone has ever confused him with his on-screen character?

"I haven't had anyone throwing things or wagging their fingers at me on the street, so at the moment I'm safe," he said.

The dad-of-two says that although he has concerns that some viewers may see him as a villain in real-life because of who his character is, he was desperate to take on the role.

"From the beginning, there was a massive part of me that wanted to be the killer," he admitted.

"For most of series one I really didn't think I would be, I only found out ahead of the filming of the final episode. I thought it would shatter Olivia's character, and it did."

So far in series two, Matthew has spent much of his time stuck in a glass box in a court room, and he told us there were two things he missed, the seaside and his cast mates, particularly one.

"Olivia's brilliant," he told us. "Nobody's got a bad word to say about her, she's just very good and it makes you better.

"We all get on really well which made the second series more frustrating because I couldn't mess about, I was stuck away from them."

Before Broadchurch aired, Matthew had no idea how big it would become, but he said he did have an inkling during the first read-through with the rest of the cast.

"When I was sitting around the table for the first time and I saw all these brilliant people, I did think, 'oooh, this could be quite good,' but I had no idea of the scale until the first episode went out."

But don't even bother asking Matthew about what happens in episode two or three.

"Wouldn't you like to know..."

Ok, will there will be a third series? Will he be in it?

"Who knows?"

We reckon he has a better idea than most, but Matthew is wise to the questions, he also believes that deep down none of us actually want him to let anything slip.

He said: "People ask, 'who did it?' or 'where's it going to go?', but nobody really wants to know. It's all part of the fun of it, it's just a wry question."

And you know what? He's probably right.

Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter, BBCNewsbeat on Instagram and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube