Marsha Thomason makes her debut as DS Jenn Townsend in a first-look image from the third series of The Bay.
The Lost and White Collar star, who is taking over the lead role on the ITV show following the departure of Morven Christie, is pictured against the backdrop of Morecambe’s sea wall.
Thomason, 45, is joined for the forthcoming series by guest stars including Outlander’s Gary Lewis, Eleventh Hour’s Rina Mahoney, Troy and 300 star Vincent Regan, Revenge’s Barry Sloane and White House Farm actor Mark Stanley.
David Carpenter and Emme Haynes will be making their professional debuts.
DS Townsend will be thrown in at the deep end when a body is found in the bay on her first day in the job and 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.
She must juggle the pressure of giving the family answers while also proving herself as the team’s newest recruit and managing her new blended family’s struggle to settle in Morecambe.
The drama is written by playwright Daragh Carville, with Furquan Akhtar co-writing the third series.
Catherine Oldfield, creative director of Tall Story Pictures and executive producer, said: “Daragh and I always felt that there were so many brilliant stories to be told in the world of The Bay so, after Morven decided to leave the show, we got straight to work finding a new lead actor.
“From the moment Marsha read for the part we knew it was ‘game over’ and we’d found our new lead, DS Townsend. We are so excited to see Marsha bring these stories to life.”
