Cold Feet and Derry Girls stars join The Bay as filming kicks off on series five

FILMING for The Bay has begun, as Leanne Best from Cold Feet and Tara Lynne O’Neill from Derry Girls join the cast.

Marsha Thomason will return as Morecambe MIU’s Family Liaison Officer for the fifth series alongside Daniel Ryan, Erin Shanagher and Andrew Dowbiggin.

Barry Sloane also retains his character as Chris Fischer, with Georgia Scholes remaining as his daughter Erin. DS Jenn Townsend returns with David Carpenter and Emme Hayes as her children, Conor and Maddie.

Catherine Oldfield, Creative Director of Tall Story Pictures and Executive Producer of The Bay said: “We are thrilled to be coming back to our beloved Morecambe for another series.

Daragh has written yet another captivating and emotional series which we know will enthral The Bay fans. We are so excited to start filming with Marsha, Dan and the team.”

Olwen May (Happy Valley, Trying) will join the Morecambe team, and Suzanne Packer (Casualty, Keeping Faith) will play Jenn’s mum, Anne Townsend.

The other Guest cast who will be in the new series are Neil Maskell(Hijack, Kill List), David Troughton (A Very Peculiar Place, New Tricks), Stephen Wight (Screw, I May Destroy You) and Ceallach Spellman (Better, White Lines). 

Shaun Evans directs episodes 1-3 of the fifth series, and Waris Islam directs episodes 4-6 with Martin Campbell as producer. 

Morecambe’s MIU team have a murder investigation at hand when a university student is found dead at the docks.

The stakes are high as the university students express their anger while the team uncovers hidden secrets and lies.

Jenn struggles to solve the case and get back to her personal and professional life as she deals with grief.

It was announced earlier this year that the popular crime drama would return for a fifth series.

The Bay is commissioned for ITV by Head of Drama, Polly Hill, and will premiere on ITV1 and be available on the streaming platform ITVX.