The Jetty - Review: The Heir to Happy Valley

The Jetty is a brand new crime drama from Cat Jones, directed by Marialy Rivas – it spans four parts and keeps its structure tight and doesn’t overstay its welcome. With echoes of Happy Valley it casts Jenna Coleman in the lead role as a Detective who has a dark past; pulling secrets from out of a scenic Lancashire town with a missing persons case being dragged to light. It’s very British crime drama TV with a lot of tropes but the dual narrative drama makes it an interesting character building play – with Connie Jenkins-Greig stepping into play young Ember Manning, opposite Bo Bragason as Amy Knightley – the script doesn’t immediately make it clear that the younger characters are the same as the ones in the present until the end of the first episode, but when it clicks it really clicks – and you get an unfolding Top of the Lake style narrative that really pulls you in.

Jenna Coleman and Ruby Stokes in THE JETTY 

“I chase the darkness for a living” narrates the podcaster – because of course there’s a podcaster, it’s a growing trend in TV lately – see Netflix’s Bodkin – but in steps Riz Samuel, capitalising on the wave of true crime. There’s a lot of Eliza Clark’s Penance here in the capture of a sexist small town and its treatment of a murder, with the local “boy’s own” pub creating a sense of an old guard that gets its way and is creepy, sleazy and just enough that anyone who’s different isn’t really welcome. It’s a BBC start from the off but don’t let that fall you – The Jetty explores what it’s like to be a woman in a dark, dark world when faced with the male patriarchy at every turn. DC Manning – and it’s a very deliberate choice to introduce her as DC Manning navigates this world with a chip on her shoulder and rightly so; as we explore more of her past we explore dialogue that’s so on point it’s designed to make you feel uncomfortable and unwelcome.

Its politics are on its sleeve, open and heartfelt. DC Manning’s relationship with her daughter is one of the most interesting points of the show, “I’m a riddle, wrapped in an enigma,” is cliché, BBC detective speak – but “wrapped in inexpensive office wear” counters it with aplom. Her past is brought back to the forefront in an ugly way – and this is very interesting to see Coleman make the step up from Doctor Who’s Clara Oswald; where she brought an aura of control that rivalled Capaldi; and gave us the best acting from a companion in the revival series. The feminist biting heart of the series is passionate and compulsive “I don’t believe that every man is capable of hurting a woman… but we are living in an incubator for the ones that are,” Manning says. She’s not quite a tired Detective, this isn’t quite Mare of Easttown levels, but there are that vibes in the small town community – and the moments where she’s allowed to have fun amist the grieving process of a largely open and shut-case make it clear that this show is very much allowing the dogma of “when” it’s set to define its music tastes – we get a needle drop of The Killers which of course someone who came of age in the 90s/2000s would be obsessed with – and the tense, nosedive into the culture of a goth in a small town in a pre-internet era is explored ferociously with all the pitfalls that come with it. Such a fascinating split of characters and timelines it’s refreshing how closed-off The Jetty is.

Connie Jenkins-Greig and Bro Bragason in THE JETTY 

The show’s cinematography is terrific. It really brings the beauty out in the rugged, rural landscape of Lancashire and looks like a perfectly appealing tourist destination; were it not for the characters that Manning encounters in this town. One of them is Tom Glynn-Carey’s older-man involved in a relationship with a younger-girl, and the show tackles the consequences of the age-gap head on with a need for striking up conversations where possible. The Jetty proudly has something to say and Glynn-Carey plays this role with a traditional love-to-hate character attitude that gets under your skin instantly.

At only four hours The Jetty will pull you right in and keep you there.