'The Bay' Season 4 Lands a March Premiere Date on BritBox

ITV's The Bay premiered in March 2019, starring Morven Christie as DS Lisa Armstrong, the Family Liaison Officer (FLO) for the fictional West Lancashire Police Service. A single mother of two, the first season centered around the case of a missing pair of twins, only for Armstrong to discover their (very married) stepfather was her recent one-night stand...which occurred the night they went missing. Though critics called the series out as a Broadchurch rip-off, the ratings were good enough to renew for a second season, which ran right into the buzzsaw of the pandemic shutdowns of 2020.

Had the series not been upended, it might have found its footing on the American side of the pond. Instead, Christie exited the show after Season 2, and Season 3 acted as a soft reboot with brand new lead Marsha Thomason as the new FLO, DS Jenn Townsend. That wound up being to the show's benefit, as Christie's exit caused Season 2 to lean into the ensemble cast. Though Townsend, on paper, is a carbon copy of Armstrong (down to the single mother of two children aspect), her relationships are more complex, and the character is far more empathetic.

The result is a series that has morphed from feeling like yet more of the same into its own unique spot on the ITV lineup. With Thomason heading into her second season, ITV and BritBox are making a more significant push to see if The Bay Season 4 could catch on over here. The show is coming over quickly from one side of the pond to the other, with a Wednesday, March 8 debut on ITV and a binge drop on BritBox on Tuesday, March 21, 2023.