SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for ‘The Jetty’, now streaming on iPlayer in the UK
In the new BBC drama ‘The Jetty’, Jenna Coleman (‘Doctor Who’, ‘The Sandman’) plays Detective Ember Manning, whose investigation into an abused teen lands her on a cold case involving another missing teen, Amy Knightly , which disappeared several years ago. decades earlier. It’s a matter that Ember soon discovers she has an intimate bond with.
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 becomes involved in the case. (The series is produced by Firebird Pictures, owned by BBC Studios).
Coleman sat down Variety after the show left off to talk about Ember’s confession, Amy’s own guilt, and whether we would ever see Detective Manning return to solve another mystery.
Let’s talk about that shocking ending, where Ember tells the detectives that Arj killed Amy. Was that always the way the series was going to end or was there ever the possibility that she would confess that it was her?
Oh God. Yes, there was. Multiple [endings]. I mean, it was a very interesting process because the show was sent to me when Episode 1 was being written with a treatment. So the conversation [with showrunner Cat Jones and exec producer Liz Kilgarriff] started there. Talking about the gray areas and asking questions without trying to necessarily answer them and sitting in that uncomfortable space. But the ending used to be very different. A very different ending. So it was really a development and then we shot two versions of the prison cell scenes where she does or doesn’t admit it, so it was largely left to the editing as to what to do with it. There were a number of different ways it could go.
What was the other version like?
She didn’t actually speak. The assumption was made [by the detectives] and she never corrected it, unlike the words that came out of her mouth. But the version we had on paper was her saying those words. Again, I think it’s about being in that uncomfortable space and there are no easy answers.
Do you remember which version you filmed first?
Can I tell you something hilarious? We weren’t actually supposed to film that scene, but when we did, a ceiling fell down in the room we were in [supposed to be] to shoot. So it was one of those classic movie days where it was like, “Oh God, okay, a ceiling has collapsed.” No, we can’t film the scenes we were supposed to film, so we just move on. [to] the pivotal scene at the end of the series where we’re going to take a single tracking shot on your face.
Oh wow. So you didn’t really have time to get to that deep place where you’re thinking about Ember’s fate, you were just thrown into this really pivotal scene?
Yes, in a very lively way. And I think it was interesting to do the different versions of it. I don’t feel like she’s ever gotten to a place where she could feel 100% comfortable passing the blame onto someone else. But we need to zoom out and look at justice and morality in a different lens, rather than through the classic rule book. It’s like you put that in your moral compass – I don’t think she’s completely comfortable in that space at all. So yeah, there are definitely a few different versions of it.
Ember’s discomfort is certainly palpable – you can almost imagine her changing her mind and admitting it later. But as Caitlin tells her, truth and justice aren’t always the same, so what would be the point?
Yes, there is no complete solution if you know what I mean. It’s not completely resolved or completely settled, comfortably. I’m sure it will be an ongoing process for Ember.
The show deals a lot with male violence and abuse, so it feels like an interesting choice to have the perpetrator be a woman. What do you think about Ember being the killer and have you talked to Cat about that decision?
Yeah, I’m trying to remember what the original premise was. Like I said, the initial ending was different – it had something to do with Caitlin. The part of the show there that particularly appealed to me was the theme of trauma and subconscious and burying your subconscious and bringing it back. I mean, everything is really heavily read, right down to the water and the drinking and the secrets and then Ember can’t see herself as clearly because it’s so deeply, deeply buried. I think that was a really 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 that the fog is getting clearer and the flashbacks are getting stronger. I don’t think Cat ever wanted it to be simple: “Men are bad, women are good.” I think that would have been a terrible version of the show. I’m very curious about the audience’s reaction to that.
That makes sense because Amy is by no means a perfect victim and while we see 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?
Honestly, I think Amy is probably the most vulnerable out of everyone. She has the most confidence and sexual liberation, so to speak, but I don’t think any of that is true. I think reading the scripts and also playing Ember puts you in a very conflicted space. It’s all these blurred boundaries.
One review describes the show as a “post-#MeToo” thriller. Do you see it this way?
It feels to me like it’s more of an observation and more of a study. I think it makes it clear that the scenes that were relevant and prevalent twenty to thirty years ago are still relevant today. We’re still in a space where we don’t have 100% of the answers either. It’s nuanced. It’s complicated. And multiple things can exist at the same time. That’s what I love about Cat. What I discovered when I read it was that it makes you sit in a room and makes you think and meditate on things, which I think is really good for drama. It threw me back and I hope it makes the audience think about their own past too.
Could we possibly see Ember return 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, offer, and consider. So I think it’s like anything, it’s always story-based. Don’t know. On to Kat!
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.