'The Bay' Starts Filming Season 4

ITV's crime drama, The Bay, initially premiered in 2019, centered around Detective Sergeant Lisa Armstrong (Morven Christie), a Family Liaison Officer (FLO) in the fictional West Lancashire Police Service. The six-part miniseries wasn't a massive hit, but the numbers were respectable enough that ITV eventually commissioned a second season, slated to start filming in the spring of 2020. Obviously, due to shutdowns, the second season was delayed. Still, in the meantime, the series crossed the pond to BritBox, where it gained a loyal American following. When Season 2 finally arrived in January of 2021, it rose in the ratings numbers from Season 1, a rare feat in the age of streaming.

However, when BritBox went to commission Season 3, Christie bowed out, and the production recast the lead role with Marsha Thomason as DS Jenn Townsend. Though the recasting did lead to a minor collapse in numbers, the BritBox viewership has remained steady. The series, which feels a bit like someone said "Broadchurch, but with Northern Accents," had all the right factors for an anglophilic audience looking for a police procedural with a female lead. Thomason was also already known to American viewers from PBS's COBRA series.

In February 2022, just as Season 3 concluded, ITV commissioned a fourth season, with Thomason reprising her role. Executive Producer Catherine Oldfield of Tall Story Pictures, which produces the series, said, "We are delighted at how The Bay audiences have taken to new FLO, DS Jenn Townsend, played by the brilliant Marsha Thomason, and how Jenn's arrival and her personal storyline has breathed new energy into the show." Filming has finally commenced this month, putting the series on track for another wintertime release come 2023. Series writer Daragh Carville (Cherrybomb) commemorated the series heading back into production with a tweet boasting that the gears were turning again.