The Bay (TV series)

For the soap opera web series, see The Bay (web series).

The Bay
GenreCrime drama[1]
Created by
Written by
  • Daragh Carville
  • Sally Tatchell
  • Kate O'Riordan
  • Furquan Akhtar
Directed by
  • Lee Haven Jones
  • (series 1, episodes 1–3)
  • Robert Quinn
  • (series 1, episodes 4–6, series 2 episodes 1–3)
  • Julia Ford
  • (series 2, episodes 4–6) [2]
Starring
Theme music composerSamuel Sim
Opening themeThe Bay – Samuel Sim (Feat. Storme)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series5
No. of episodes30
Production
Executive producerCatherine Oldfield[2]
Running time45 minutes
Production companyTall Story Pictures
Original release
NetworkITV
Release20 March 2019 (2019-03-20) –
present
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Bay is a British crime drama television series produced by Tall Story Pictures and distributed worldwide by ITV Studios Global Entertainment that first aired in March 2019 on ITV.[3] The first two series starred Morven Christie as a detective sergeant family liaison officer. Marsha Thomason took over the leading role from series three as DS Jenn Townsend. The first series centred around an investigation into teenage missing twins from a family living in Morecambe. The name of the series derives from Morecambe Bay, in the county of Lancashire in the north-west of England.

The first series received an average of 7.2 million views across the six episodes. A second series of six episodes was confirmed on 4 May 2019 and it was originally planned for it to be broadcast in mid-2020. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pushed back to early 2021; in January of that year, all six episodes were immediately made available on the ITV Hub, receiving an average of 7.9 million views.[3]

A third series was filmed in the summer 2021.[4] Christie decided to leave the show following production on the second series and Marsha Thomason was cast as the new lead, DS Jenn Townsend.[5] After the last episode of series 3 was broadcast a fourth series was announced, and filming completed June 2022. It was renewed for a fifth series and filming began in July 2023.[6]

  1. ^ Wilson, Benji (20 March 2019). "The Bay, episode 1, review: can this crime drama be anything more than a northern Broadchurch?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  2. ^ a b "Morven Christie lands lead role in crime drama The Bay". The Belfast Telegraph. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 4 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b "ITV commissions second series of The Bay". Press Centre. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  4. ^ "Will there be a season 3 of The Bay?". Metro. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  5. ^ "The Bay renewed for a 3rd season by ITV". spoilertv.com. 15 February 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  6. ^ "ITV confirm the Bay will return for series 5". Digital Spy. 23 May 2023.