Broadchurch rapist Leo becomes bizarre sex symbol for fans as they continue to lust after him despite serial sex attacks
BROADCHURCH rapist Leo Humphries has become a bizarre sex symbol for fans of the crime drama.
They lust over Chris Mason, 26, who plays him, despite Leo being unmasked as a serial sex beast in the series finale.
One viewer, @stedanchick, tweeted: “Don’t you just hate it when they make the sexiest beaut on the show a baddie?
“How am I supposed to hate Leo’s beautiful face?”
Ciara Keana added: “Sorry, but Leo is a dreamboat.” And Scotty Mac wrote: “Let’s face it, he’s hot!”
Others acknowledged the character’s evil side, yet that not stop them fancying him.
Jo Lauren wrote: “I’m so attracted to Chris Mason. I feel bad, but he’s fit!” And Kevin Peter said: “You evil b*****d, Leo. Still would.”
Chris — who starred in last year’s anti-homophobia football flick Wonderkid — has been engaged to US actress Spencer Locke, 25, since November. He called her “the woman that would change my life forever”.
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Monday’s finale saw the crime drama draw its best ever audience of 9.3 million.
That made it and Saturday’s Britain’s Got Talent ITV’s joint biggest hits of the year.
Viewers saw Leo beat Trish Winterman unconscious, tie her up, then film teenager Michael Lucas — played by Deon Lee-Williams — raping her. Leo boasted about it and his previous sex attacks.
Show creator Chris Chibnall, 46, admitted he initially had other rapists in mind.
He said: “I’d written the first draft of Episode One and thought of somebody who was the culprit.
“Then I thought, ‘No, it’s more likely to be this’. It evolved in response to writing it. You start to think in a different way and the material starts to speak to you a lot.”
The rapists’ identities were kept secret from the cast until as late as possible.
But Andrew Buchan, 38 — whose character Mark Latimer endured schoolboy son Danny’s murder in 2013 — was sure it was not him.
The actor explained: “On this one I didn’t know, but I felt pretty certain.
“Surely it couldn’t be me? They couldn’t put the Latimers through any more hell.”