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Mysterious fires, murky pasts and people hiding dark secrets: the BBC’s latest police thriller The Jetty is out soon.
Starring Jenna Coleman, the show, which is set in Lancashire, tells the story of rookie detective Ember Manning, who finds her past and present colliding after an act of arson destroys the local boat house.
It’s set to be the BBC’s big summer release, and it’s stacked accordingly with a great cast. Ahead of its broadcast on July 15, we break down who’s playing who.
Jenna Coleman as Ember Manning
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Ember is the hero of this story: a rookie detective who joined the force after the death of her husband, Mack. She’s mother to Hannah, whom she had very young, and as she digs into the truth behind the boat house fire, she starts questioning everything she thought she knew.
Originally from Blackpool, Jenna Coleman was reportedly named after the character Jenna Wade from the American TV show Dallas (a good sign she’d go onto become an actor) – and started her career playing Jasmine Thomas in the soap Emmerdale.
Her big break, though, came in 2012 when she was cast as companion Clara Oswald in Doctor Who, opposite Matt Smith, and later Peter Capaldi. Since then, she’s gone onto appear in period drama Victoria (as Victoria herself), in crime shows The Cry and The Serpent and in the Netflix fantasy series The Sandman as a gender-swapped Constantine.
Archie Renaux as Hitch
Hitch is Ember’s partner on the force, who’s helping her to dig into the arson case.
Archie Renaux, who plays him, is probably best known for playing Mal in the hit Netflix series Shadow and Bone. Originally from Kingston Upon Thames, he quit his job as an air conditioning engineer to become an actor.
After a stint modelling, he started picking up roles, appearing in dystopian film Zero in 2017, Prime Video series Hanna in 2019 and even in Marvel’s panned film Morbius.
Amelia Bullmore as Sylvia
Sylvia is Ember’s mother, who also happens to work as a psychic medium.
Bullmore is an actor, screenwriter and playwright who comes from Chelsea. She started her career as part of a cabaret group named Red Stockings and transitioned to acting when she appeared as Sonja, the Ukrainian girlfriend of Alan Partridge in series two of I’m Alan Partridge.
Since then, she’s written two plays (Mammals and Di, and Vi and Rose) and appeared in shows like Happy Valley (as jealous mistress Vicky Fleming) and in Gentleman Jack as Eliza Priestley.
Ruby Stokes as Hannah
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Hannah is Ember’s teenage daughter. Because Ember had her so young, the pair’s relationship is more like that of sisters, or best friends, than parent and child.
Stokes is an up-and-coming face in the industry. Originally from Hackney, she started acting young, but got her big break when she was cast as Francesca Bridgerton for seasons one and two – a show she eventually left to play the lead role in Netflix supernatural drama Lockwood & Co, though that was cancelled in 2023.
Weruche Opia as Riz
Riz is a journalist and podcaster, who’s looking into a case of sexual abuse and the disappearance of a girl in Ember’s town.
Opia, who plays her, is a British-Nigerian actor. Born in Lagos, she moved to the UK at the age of 13 (her mother is veteran broadcaster Ruth Benamaisia-Opia). Opia soon moved into acting: she’s appeared in Top Boy, BBC comedy Bad Education, and as Terry Pratchard in Michaela Coel’s BBC series I May Destroy You – for which she was nominated for a BAFTA.
Laura Marcus as Caitlin
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Caitlin is a high school student who quickly gets sucked into a toxic friendship/relationship with mysterious new girl Amy.
An Evening Standard-picked star of tomorrow, Marcus made her debut in the 25th anniversary special of Silent Witness, and has gone onto appear in the ITV show Tom Jones, Disney+’s Andor and Prime Video’s The Devil’s Hour.
Bo Bragason as Amy
Amy is new to Lancashire: a troubled girl with absentee parents, she’s dating Malachy, a mysterious older man.
Bo Bragason is another new face. She most recently appeared opposite Louisa Harland in the Disney+ series Renegade Nell as Roxy – and is in next year’s The Radleys, the film adaptation of Matt Haig’s book, opposite Damian Lewis.
Tom Glynn-Carney as Malachy
Malachy is the mysterious older man who seems to be dating Amy.
Glynn-Carney is currently starring as the loathsome King Aegon in the HBO series House of the Dragon. In 2017, he won an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Emerging Talent for his work in play The Ferryman; he’s also appeared in BBC shows SAS: Rogue Heroes as Mike Sadler and in Mayflies as Tully.
Matthew McNulty as Arj
Arj is an old friend of Ember’s late husband Mack, who still keeps in touch.
McNulty was born in Germany but moved to the UK when he was 10. He juggled working in a builder’s yard with his acting career, and has appeared in Channel 4 show Misfits, Doctor Who, Domina and The Bay over the years.
Ralph Ineson as DI Morgan
DI Morgan is the no-nonsense leader of the local Lancashire police squad, who finds himself helming a murder investigation.
The Leeds-born Ineson’s gravelly Yorkshire tones have landed him roles in The Office (where he played Chris Finch), Anya Taylor-Joy star vehicle The Witch, and as the Green Knight in the Dev Patel film of the same name.
