The BBC dives into the choppy waters of sexual morality and age of consent post the MeToo movement in a new mystery drama The Jetty.
When a fire rips through a lakeside property, it sparks a chain of events which draws Detective Ember Manning (Jenna Coleman) into an investigation into grooming and a missing person cold case.
It also leads her to question her own past, memory and identity.
Cat Jones, the show’s writer, creator and executive producer, said: “The Jetty is really about the relationship between men and women in a post ‘Me Too‘ world.
“It’s about looking at the relationship between a sexist remark in the pub against violence towards women and girls, and the fact that one can be an incubator for the other.”
However, she added: “I think the tone is also set by Ember who’s very funny and dry.
“Although there are some serious ideas at the heart of it, I think she stops it from feeling too dark and heavy.”
Who is in The Jetty cast?
Jenna Coleman
Star of Victoria and The Serpent, Jenna Coleman plays detective Ember Manning in The Jetty.
The recently widowed mother of Hannah is tasked with investigating a suspected arson at a lakeside property. Delving into the case throws up links to a local sex offender and a cold case of a missing person.
But it also makes her re-evaluate her own past.
Coleman, who has also starred in Doctor Who and Emmerdale, describes her character in the show as “quite prickly, stubborn, proud and free-willed” but she said “she’s also very warm and loyal… really funny”.
Ruby Stokes
Ruby Stokes plays Ember’s teenage daughter Hannah. The Bridgerton and Lockwood and Co actress has a “sisterly friendship” with her mother, who was relatively young when she had her.
She feels the impact when her mother start’s to examine her own past and memories.
Amelia Bullmor
Ameila Bullmore plays Ember manning’s mother Sylvia.
The Coronation Street and Gentleman Jack star described her character as “spiritual and creative, yet disappointed with her life”.
Like Ember, she became a mother while quite young and the three generations of women are close in age.
But her relationship with her daughter Ember is marked out by a “mixture of envy and pride”.
Weruche Opia
Weruche Opia plays headstrong Riz a crime podcaster who focuses on missing people and has begun to investigate the cold case of a girl who went missing 17 years ago.
Previously seen in I May Destroy You and Bad Education, she said her character in The Jetty “has a really good heart and wants to do what’s right, but sometimes there’s a thin line of how far you should go to find the truth”.
“She sees herself as a freedom fighter – an avenging angel type”, she added.
Archie Renaux
Archie Renaux plays Ember’s side-kick rookie detective Hitch.
The Gold Digger and The Greatest Beer Run actor said his character in the show is like “a puppy dog who’ll do anything to impress”.
Ember has taken him under her wing and helped him escape a murkier past.
She has made him “realise that he needs to start taking things more seriously and distance himself from that crowd otherwise he’ll be stuck there”, he said.
- Tom Glynn-Carney as Malachy (House of the Dragon, SAS Rogue Heroes, Dunkirk)
- Laura Marcus as Caitlin (The Great Escaper, Bad Education, The Serpent Queen)
- Bo Bragason as Amy (The Ballad of Renegade Nell, The Radleys)
- Matthew McNulty as Arj (The Rising, Domina, The Terror)
- Ralph Ineson as Morgan (Nosferatu, The Witch, Green Knight)
- David Ajala as Casey (Italian Studies)
- Nina Barker-Francis as Chloe (The Flash)
- Miya Ocego as Jules (Wreck, I Hate Suzie)
- Elliot Cowan as Russell (Fifteen-Love, The Crown)
- Dominic Coleman as Brad (Paddington, Trollied)
Where was The Jetty filmed?
The Jetty is set in Lancashire and much of the filming is done there, with the reservoir Hollingworth Lake in Littleborough, Rochdale used for some of the lake scenes.
Elizabeth Kilgariff, Firebird Pictures executive producer, said: “The setting was a very changeful place.
“We were filming near Lancashire, in the winter essentially, so it’s quite wild.
“There’s a rawness to it, but there’s so much beauty as well.
“There’s also something dangerous about the setting.”
The West Yorkshire market town Todmorden, in Calderdale, is also used as the setting for some of the filming of the show.
Ms Kilgariff added: “For us, we never wanted the town to be a sort of lovely chocolate box kind of a place.
“We wanted it to feel real but also slightly elevated and the lake really gives us that.
“It’s a very beautiful but raw and wild place.”
How many episodes are there?
Four-part series The Jetty will launch one BBC One on 15 July at 9pm.
The remaining three episodes can be watched on BBC One on Tuesday 16 July at 9pm, Sunday 21 July at 9pm and Monday 22 July at 9pm.
It will also be available to stream on the BBC iPlayer from 6am on 15 July.
