Armagh writer thrilled with second series of ITV drama
The Bay returns next month as Daragh reveals he is working on new project in NI
A CO Armagh screenwriter behind the hit ITV police drama The Bay has spoken about wrapping the new series up just before the pandemic halted productions everywhere, and revealed why he’s ready to tell a new story in Northern Ireland.
Daragh Carville (51) was supposed to be in Armagh visiting family this Christmas — but lockdown means he spoke to the Belfast Telegraph from Morecambe Bay, the dramatic coastal setting of his series near his home in Lancaster.
Series two will start in January, with the broadcast delayed by almost a year as ITV has and others have had to space out new productions to fill the schedules.
“Luckily we had more or less got everything in the can, with the last few little nips and tucks we were able to do remotely — but then ITV decided to hold it back until January,” he said.
“Covid has just affected absolutely everything, but we were very lucky because there were other shows in production. I know Line of Duty was halfway through when everything was shut down.”
Morven Christie returns in the lead role as Family Liaison Officer DS Lisa Armstrong, with Daniel Ryan reprising his role as DI Tony Manning.
Also returning from the first series is Taheen Modak as DC ‘Med’ Kharim with new faces including Stephen Tompkinson (Brassed Off ) and James Cosmo (Game of Thrones).
Introducing the story to any new viewers, Daragh said: “The key thing is that it’s a show about a police family liaison officer, someone who works with families at the worst time in their lives.
“That’s the thing that I was most interested in when I first pitched it and started researching it. I started meeting up with family liaison officers, or FLOS.
“It’s extraordinary enough being a cop, but one who volunteers to go into a devastated family and work with them takes a particular kind of person to do that.
“They’re not paid anything extra to do that. There’s a bit of training that goes into it, but basically they’re really putting themselves on the emotional frontline.”
He continued: “The other big thing to say about the show is the place. My wife is from here so I’ve been living here for, I don’t even know... 10 or 15 years.
“So it’s both a crime drama and a family drama, set in this town on the edge of England looking out across the Irish Sea.
“It’s a very distinctive world which is very beautiful, but also very gritty and real.”
As well as focusing on the policing aspect, The Bay also shows how DS Armstrong struggles to balance the demands of her job with home life.
“She’s really professional and brilliant at working with other families, but she’s not always as brilliant at dealing with her own because she doesn’t have that professional distance,” he said.
“It’s the whole work-life balance thing, I think it’s something we’re all really conscious of. With Covid and lockdown, that’s really brought into stark relief because so many of us are working from home.
“In some ways the separation between your home and work life has been evaporated which brings stresses and strains of its own.”
In a recent interview, cast member Joe Absolom described The Bay as “Game of Thrones in Morecambe”.
“I did slightly raise my eyebrows at that one,” said Daragh laughing.
“I suspect what he’s talking about is what an amazing cast we have this year. We’ve got some really big hitters including James Cosmo who was really central to some of the early years of Game of Thrones.
“I thought it was a great quote, but we don’t have any dragons unfortunately.”
Looking forward, Daragh is keen to produce more series of The Bay as well working on a new television project in Northern Ireland.
“I’m absolutely loving working on The Bay but I have a hankering to work on something in my own voice from where I come from,” he said.
“I can’t say too much about it, but it will bring me back close to home.”
Series one of The Bay is now available to stream in full on the ITV Hub before the new series begins next month.
‘The separation between your home and work life has been evaporated which brings stresses and strains of its own’