GENSOCIAL
ITV AND Tall Story Pictures, part of ITV Studios, have announced that Cobra star Marsha Thomason is set to join ITV’s hit crime drama, The Bay, for its third series.
The second series currently on air is averaging overseven million viewers across all transmissions and devices, based on consolidated figures to date. On ITV Hub, The Bay Series one and Series two have earned a massive 19.8m programme streams since December 18 (when The Bay Series one dropped on ITV Hub), with 19.2m of these coming in 2021.
Thomason joins the regular cast as Morecambe CID’s new Family Liaison Officer, DS Jenn Townsend, following Morven Christie’s decision to leave the show.
DS Townsend is immediately thrown into the deep end when a body is found in the bay on her first day in the job.
She must get under the skin of a grieving and complicated family if she has any chance of solving the premature death of an aspiring young boxer. While she’s eager to give the family answers, she also needs to prove herself as the team’s newest recruit.
The pressure is multiplied when her new blended family struggle to settle in Morecambe, proving to Jenn that a fresh start might not be as simple as moving to a different town.
Reprising their roles are Daniel Ryan, Erin Shanagher, Thomas Law and Andrew Dowbiggin.
The hugely successful drama is written by award-winning writer and playwright Daragh Carville, with Furquan Akhtar co-writing series three, and produced by Tall Story Pictures.
Series three is due to begin filming in the spring and will be produced by Irma Inniss.
The third series has been commissioned by ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill.
“We are delighted with the audiences’ response to The Bay and look forward to them meeting DS Jenn Townsend played by the fantastic Marsha Thomason, who joins the team in series three.”
Executive Producer, Catherine Oldfield says: “Daragh and I couldn’t be more delighted by the audience response to The Bay. That ITV have recommissioned the show is fantastic and to get a talent as bright and brilliant as Marsha to lead the new series is beyond exciting.
“We can’t wait to get back to Morecambe to start filming again in that beautiful part of the world.”
