Jenna Coleman to Lead Upcoming BBC Detective Drama 'The Jetty'

Jenna Coleman's next role is something of a British acting rite of passage: Starring in a detective drama. Granted, the upcoming four-part series, called The Jetty, seems anything but traditional. 

In it, Coleman plays rookie detective Ember Manning, called in to investigate when a fire demolishes a holiday home in a scenic lake town in Lancashire. Manning must work out how this dark event connects to a podcast journalist investigating a missing persons cold case and an illicit ‘love’ triangle between a man in his twenties and two underage girls.

But as Ember gets close to the truth, it threatens to destroy her life --- and forces her to question everything she thought she knew about her past, present, and the town she's always claimed as her own. Described as one part coming-of-age story and one part detective thriller, The Jetty aims to wrestle with big questions about identity, memory, and sexual morality, in the all too easily abandoned places that the #MeToo movement has left behind.

The series hails from creator Cat Jones (Harlots) and marks Coleman's first turn in a detective drama or procedural-style crime series. The actress was most recently seen in Prime Video's revenge thriller Wilderness and has portrayed roles as varied as the famous British queen Victoria and a Doctor Who companion.

"I’m thrilled to be making The Jetty for BBC One. Like millions of people all over the world, I've grown up loving and admiring BBC dramas, so getting to create one really is a dream come true," Jones said in a statement. "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."

The four-part series is produced by Firebird Pictures, one of BBC Studios’ owned production labels. Written and created by Jones, its director is Marialy Rivas (Young & Wild). Executive producers are Elizabeth Kilgarriff, Sarah Wyatt, Jones, Rivas, and Coleman, alongside Jo McClellan for the BBC.

 "I’m delighted to be returning to the BBC to be a part of The Jetty, with Firebird Pictures at the helm, bringing the story of Ember Manning to life," Coleman said. " I look forward to exploring Cat Jones’ darkly probing scripts, alongside Marialy Rivas’ eloquent vision."

There's no airdate as yet for The Jetty, but as the series was only recently announced, a mid-2024 premiere seems fairly likely.