David Tennant hopes he can work with Olivia Colman again following the end of 'Broadchurch'.

Olivia Colman and David Tennant

Olivia Colman and David Tennant

The 46-year-old actor portrayed DI Alec Hardy alongside the actress' DS Ellie Miller in the crime drama from 2013 until the show came to an end for good in 2017 and has admitted he's devastated they'll no longer be on set together but hopes they can team up again in the future.

Speaking to iNews, he said of his talented co-star: "She's lovely to work with, lovely to be around. And she's a pal. I'd love to do something with her again."

And, although the programme received rave reviews, the show's creator Chris Chibnall is "absolutely" certain it won't return for another series and is surprised by the success its had.

He said previously: "There will be no more after this one, absolutely. It's been an extraordinary journey with the show it has taken us all by surprise."

Viewers were left on the edge of their seats when the third - and final - series concluded with the bombshell that taxi driver Clive Lucas' (Sebastian Armesto) son Michael Lucas (Deon Lee-Williams) was guilty of raping Trish Winterman (Julie Hesmondhalgh) all along.

The schoolboy was forced to carry out the sickening assault by Leo Humphries (Chris Mason) after he groomed him to become a rapist, supplied him with booze, assaulted Trish with a cricket bat and filmed the sexual assault on his phone.

However, viewers were kept guessing right up until the last minute as Chibnall had made sure that a number of potential culprits were kept on the scene.

The 47-year-old writer even changed his mind on the offender mid-way through the series.

He said at the time: "I wrote episode one draft one and I thought it was somebody and then I was thinking about it and I was like, 'Oh, actually, that's how it should resolve.' It changed slightly but then from the second draft of episode one [it was] always the same."