Claire Ashworth

Claire lives quietly in Broadchurch with her partner, but she is not who her neighbours think. She is tied to Alec Hardy's unsolved Sandbrook case, and when her past resurfaces she grows jumpy, evasive, and quick to lie to protect herself. She wants to be left alone and clearly cannot be.

Eve Myles plays Claire as a woman permanently braced for impact, her warmth curdling into panic the moment she's pressed. The writing keeps her motives illegible for a long stretch, and Myles uses that ambiguity beautifully — you're never sure if you're watching a victim, a liar, or both at once.