SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for “The Jetty,” now streaming on iPlayer in the U.K.
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In new BBC drama “The Jetty” Jenna Coleman (“Doctor Who,” “The Sandman”) plays Detective Ember Manning, whose investigation into an abused teenager sets her onto a cold case relating to another missing teen, Amy Knightly, who disappeared some decades earlier. It’s a case Ember soon realizes she has an intimate connection to.
Over four nail-biting episodes showrunner Cat Jones takes viewers on a bumpy ride through Ember’s past and present as an investigative podcaster and even Ember’s own family become wrapped up in the case. (The series is produced by BBC Studios-owned Firebird Pictures).
Coleman sat down with Variety after the show dropped to speak about Ember’s confession, Amy’s own culpability and whether we might ever see Detective Manning return to solve another mystery.
Let’s talk about that shocking ending, where Ember tells detectives that Arj killed Amy. Was that always how the series was going to end or was there ever the possibility that she would confess it was her?
Oh God. Yeah, there was. Multiple [endings]. I mean, it was a really interesting process, because the show got sent to me when episode 1 was written with a treatment. So the conversation [with showrunner Cat Jones and exec producer Liz Kilgarriff] began there. Talking about the grey areas and asking questions without trying to necessarily answer them and sitting in that uncomfortable space. But the ending used to be extremely different. A completely different ending. So it was very much a development and then we actually shot two versions of the prison cell scenes where she admits or doesn’t admit so it was very much left to the edit what to do with it. There was a couple of different ways it could go.
What was the other version like?
She basically didn’t speak. The assumption was made [by the detectives] and she never corrected it as opposed to the words coming out of her mouth. But the version that we had on paper was her saying those words. Again, I think it’s about sitting in that uncomfortable space and there being no easy answers.
Do you remember which version you filmed first?
Can I tell you something hilarious? We actually weren’t supposed to shoot that scene when we did but a ceiling fell down in a space where we were [supposed to be] shooting. So it was one of those classic filming days where it was like, “Oh God, okay, a ceiling has fallen in. No, we can’t film the scenes that we were supposed to so we’re just going to pull forward [to] the pivotal scene of the end of the series where we’re going to do a single tracking shot on your face.”
Oh wow. So you didn’t really have time to get into that deep place where you’re thinking about Ember’s fate, you were just thrown into this really crucial scene?
Yeah, in a very live way. And I think it was interesting doing the different versions of it. I don’t feel like she ever arrived at a space where she 100% could ever feel comfortable with passing the blame onto somebody else. But having to zoom out and look at justice and morality in a different lens, rather than the classic rulebook. It’s like, settling that in your moral compass — I don’t think she’s completely comfortable in that space at all. So yeah, there’s definitely a couple of different versions of it.
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Ember’s discomfort is certainly palpable – you can almost imagine her changing her mind and admitting to it later. But as Caitlin tells her, truth and justice aren’t always the same thing, so what would be the point?
Yeah, there’s not complete resolve if you know what I mean. It’s not completely resolved or completely settled, comfortable. I’m sure for Ember it will be an ongoing process.
The show deals a lot with male violence and abuse so having the perpetrator be a woman feels like an interesting choice. What are your thoughts about Ember being the killer and did you speak to Cat about that decision?
Yeah, I’m trying to remember what the initial premise was. Like I said, the initial ending was different – it was something to do with Caitlin. The part of the show there that appealed to me in particular was the theme of trauma and subconscious and burying your subconscious and bringing it all back. I mean, everything is really heavily read all the way back to like, water and the drinking and the secrets and then Ember not being able to see herself very clearly, because it’s been so deeply, deeply buried. I think that was a very interesting side of the story – what your brain can do, what your memory can do to suppress. Throughout the series, you can feel for Ember the mist is getting clearer and clearer and the flashbacks are getting stronger and stronger. I think Cat never wanted it to be a simple, you know, ‘Men are bad, women are good.’ I think that would have been a terrible version of the show. I’d be very interested in the audience’s response to that.
That makes sense because Amy definitely isn’t a perfect victim and while we encounter male grooming in the show, it’s hard not to conclude that Amy is actually grooming and even abusing Caitlin. How do you see Amy?
To be honest, I think Amy of everyone is probably the most vulnerable. She sits with the most confidence and the most sexual liberation, so to speak, but I don’t think any of that is true. I think reading the scripts and also playing Ember, it sits you in a very conflicting space. It’s all these blurred boundaries.
One review describes the show as a “post-#MeToo” thriller. Do you see it that way?
It feels to me like it’s more of an observation and it’s more of a study. I think what it does throw up is that the scenes that were relevant and prevalent 20 to 30 years ago, still apply now. We are still in a space where we don’t 100% have the answers either. It’s nuanced. It’s complicated. And multiple things can exist at once. That’s what I kind of love about Cat. What I found when I read it was it does make you sit in a space and it makes you reflect and it makes you meditate on things, which I think is a really good thing for drama to do. It threw me back and I hope it gets the audience to reflect on their own past as well.
Could we potentially see Ember returning to investigate another mystery? Would you come back for a second season?
I love her as a character, it felt so fully formed. I feel like this series had something really interesting to say and to offer and to consider. So I guess it’s like with anything, it’s always story-based. I don’t know. Over to Cat!
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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