Coleman will play rookie detective Ember Manning.

By Morgan Jeffery

Published: Thursday, 24 August 2023 at 14:15 PM


The BBC has announced new thriller series The Jetty, with Jenna Coleman cast in the lead role.

Coleman (Doctor Who, The Serpent) will play rookie detective Ember Manning in the four-part series from writer Cat Jones.

The Jetty will follow Manning as she investigates the link between a fire at a holiday home in a scenic Lancashire lake town, a missing persons cold case, and a man in his twenties who is abusing two underage girls.

The series synopsis teases that “as Ember gets close to the truth, it threatens to destroy her life – forcing her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about her past, present and the town she’s always called home”.

Billed “as much a coming-of-age story as a detective thriller”, The Jetty promises to ask “big questions about sexual morality, identity and memory, in the places that Me Too has left behind”.

I’m delighted to be returning to the BBC to be a part of The Jetty, with [producers] Firebird Pictures at the helm, bringing the story of Ember Manning to life,” said Coleman, who will also serve as executive producer on the project. “I look forward to exploring Cat Jones’ darkly probing scripts, alongside [director] Marialy Rivas’ eloquent vision.”

Writer/creator Cat Jones added: “The Jetty is a story I’ve wanted to tell for a long time but it wasn’t until it found its champions at the fantastically writer friendly Firebird, that it really came to life. What feels like a total dream team continues to grow with the addition of Marialy Rivas to direct and the brilliant Jenna Coleman. I’ve no doubt audiences are going to be completely transfixed by her as Ember.”

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The Jetty – which will be available on BBC One and BBC iPlayer – was announced today by Lindsay Salt, director of BBC Drama, at the Edinburgh TV Festival’s Spotlight on the BBC session.

“The Jetty is so much more than a crime thriller, and with Cat Jones as writer, Firebird Pictures producing and Jenna in the lead role of Ember Manning, I know we have the perfect team in place to create a truly brilliant, brave series,” said Salt, adding: “I can’t wait for BBC viewers to discover its many secrets.”