The Bay season 4 has started filming with new plot details confirmed

The Bay season 4 cast
The Bay season 4 is heading our way... (Image credit: ITV/Ben Blackall/Tall Story Pictures)

The Bay is heading back to ITV soon, with the broadcaster confirming the news that the popular crime drama has started filming the next installment.

Once again, the series is filming in Morecambe and will see Marsha Thomason (White Collar) reprising her role as Morecambe CID’s Family Liaison Officer, DS Jenn Townsend.

Series regulars Daniel Ryan (Innocent) Erin Shanagher (Peaky Blinders), Thomas Law (The World’s End) and Andrew Dowbiggin (Coronation Street) also return alongside Marsha, as well as Barry Sloane (Revenge), Georgia Scholes (Hollyoaks), David Carpenter and Emme Haynes.

ITV has also released plot details for The Bay season 4, which are: "When young mum of four, Beth Metcalf, dies in what seems to be a targeted attack, Morecambe’s MIU team are called to the scene. Jenn immediately realises this shattered family will need every support available to them.  

It adds: "Bereft husband Dean finds himself at sea. Numb from shock and completely unprepared for being the sole carer to his four children he struggles at every turn - unable to process what’s happened."

TV tonight Jenn faces an uncertain future

Marsha Thomason returns as lead role DS Jenn Townsend. (Image credit: ITV)

Speaking about the fourth season, ITV's Head of Drama, Polly Hill said: "The Bay continues to captivate viewers and is a hugely successful drama for ITV, both on linear transmission and the ITV Hub.  

"Marsha Thomason's casting in the last series was inspired, and Daragh Carville and the Tall Story Pictures team once again deliver a plot full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing to the end.  Whilst all set again the dramatic coastline of Morecambe, with its glorious sea and skyscapes."

Catherine Oldfield, Creative Director of Tall Story Pictures and Executive Producer of The Bay added: "Marsha’s arrival in series three elevated The Bay yet again and Daragh has delivered another thrilling story for our hugely talented cast to get stuck into.  We can’t wait to bring it to life once again set against the backdrop of Morecambe’s beautiful eerie skies and shore."

The Bay is co-created and written by award-winning writer and playwright Daragh Carville (Being Human), with Caroline Carver joining the writing team for episode 3 and Furquan Akhtar returning to write episode 5 of season 4.

Currently, we don't have a release date for the new season of The Bay, but we'll be sure to keep you updated when one is announced by ITV.

In the meantime, the first three seasons are all available on-demand via ITV Hub if you want to catch up before the new one is released.

Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Now she works for our sister site TechRadar in the same role. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.

She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress