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BBC’s new crime drama The Jetty has divided opinion following the release of its first episode on Monday night.
It tells the story of Detective Ember Manning (Jenna Coleman) as she investigates a missing person’s case that threatens to unravel her own mysterious past, with House Of The Dragon’s Tom Glynn-Carney seemingly playing the show’s villain.
The interconnecting stories see the detective forced to try and piece together the truth after a fire destroys a property in the Lake District during the four-part thriller.
Detective Manning is forced to try to uncover what connects a podcast journalist investigating an unsolved case to an illicit relationship between a man in his twenties and two underage girls.
The series, written and created by Cat Jones, also stars Happy Valley’s Amelia Bullmore, The Terror’s Matthew McNulty and The Witch star Ralph Ineson.
BBC’s new crime drama The Jetty has caused a split in opinion following the premiere of its first episode on Monday night. Pictured are Hitch, played by Archie Renaux, and Ember, played by Jenna Coleman.
‘The Jetty is as much a coming-of-age story as it is a detective thriller, and it raises big questions about sexual morality, identity and memory, in the places left behind by the Me Too movement,’ according to the official synopsis.
However, after its first episode last night, the gritty series suffered dozens of complaints from fans over audio issues.
One person wrote on X: “The lighting, sound, dialogue and acting. All terrible. #TheJetty.”
Another said: “Am I the only one struggling to understand #TheJetty? Is it the sound? The accents? Are they mumbling? #BBCOne.”
A third added: ‘#thejetty is a potentially engaging drama, although comprehension was hampered by the rapid mumble of speech. What happened to clear enunciation?’
A fourth wrote: ‘Tried to watch #TheJetty on BBC but gave up after 25 minutes, can’t understand a word. Mumble, mumble, mumble… Anyone agree? Maybe it’s my audition.’
It tells the story of Detective Ember Manning (Jenna Coleman) as she investigates a missing person case that threatens to unravel her own mysterious past. Pictured are Hannah, played by Ruby Stokes, and Ember, played by Jenna Coleman.
The interconnecting stories see the detective forced to try to piece together the truth after a fire destroys a property in the Lake District.
Fans shared their disappointment in X, claiming they couldn’t understand the narrative due to the constant ‘mumbling’.
Meanwhile, other viewers had nothing but praise for the new series.
Other viewers had nothing but praise for the new series, commenting: “Just watched BBC’s The Jetty, amazing 10/10. Instant new favourite.”
“I just watched The Jetty straight through. I thought it was really good, I had no trouble understanding the dialogue. I highly recommend it,” wrote another.
But what did the critics think? Here, FEMAIL analyzes the reviews…
THE GUARDIAN
The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan suggested the opening of the thriller’s first episode left much to be desired, calling it “deeply uninspired”.
The Guardians Lucy Mangan suggested the opening of the thriller’s first episode left much to be desired, calling it “deeply uninspired”.
It features a podcaster explaining the premise in a voiceover and Detective Ember Manning, who is awakened in the night by an “intruder” who turns out to be her daughter Hannah sneaking a cigarette outside.
However, after the opening, the critic insisted that the drama is worth watching because it explores “what it means to move as a woman in a world rife with male violence in all its myriad forms.”
‘The Jetty becomes a study in power relations, exploitation, innocence, ignorance and the impossibility of ever escaping a social structure that has never been designed with your well-being in mind,’ Lucy said.
The critic concluded: “The Jetty is no Happy Valley, but it is much, much closer than one might have expected.”
THE TELEGRAPH
“You could say The Jetty is bad because the BBC is showing it on a Monday in July, but the first episode confirms that,” said The Telegraph’s Anita Singh.
“You could say The Jetty is bad because the BBC is showing it on a Monday in July, but the first episode confirms that,” he said. The Telegraph Anita Singh.
The Arts and Entertainment editor called Jenna’s latest BBC offering “clichéd and confusing” and added that “the crime drama is a summer flop.”
She said the story about “bullying, blurred lines and the vulnerability of girls” gets lost in a disorganized plot, “poorly lit” scenes and “dialogue that is sometimes difficult to decipher.”
The critic even admitted: “The plot in the first hour is so confusing that I checked twice to see if I had started watching a later episode by mistake.”
THE TIMES
Ben Dowell told the Times: “Too many dramas seem to take voyeuristic delight in the terrible threats facing women and girls. This shows what can be done about it.”
Ben Dowell said The times:Cat Jones, the writer of The Jetty, has mixed many traditional ingredients into what at first glance is another drama about a missing teenager.
‘But their mix is pleasantly laced with something more socially urgent: the slippery issue of consent and the sexualization of teenage girls.’
He suggested that the “clever twist” at the end of the first episode also makes the drama stand out from the rest.
The critic added: “Too many dramas seem to take voyeuristic delight in the terrible threats facing women and girls. This shows what can be done about it.”
THE INDEPENDENT
Writing for The Independent, Nick Hilton said the BBC’s latest thriller was “clichéd but compelling”.
Writing for the IndependentNick Hilton has called the BBC’s latest thriller “clichéd but compelling”.
He noted that The Jetty “doesn’t reinvent the crime drama… in fact, it borrows heavily from the BBC’s vast back catalogue”; however, for this critic, the likable lead character of Jenna saves the drama from its clumsy dialogue and clichés.
But Nick warned that the thriller’s balance between feminist message and method is fraught with complications.
She noted that Ember was “on a crusade to expose the systemic misogyny of the community,” but “the flashbacks portray these teenage girls in an overtly sexualized way.”
THE IRISH TIMES
Writing for the Irish Times, Ed Power insisted: “There’s a decent thriller somewhere at the end of The Jetty, but I’m not sure it’s worth getting there.”
Writing for the Irish TimesEd Power insisted: “There’s a decent thriller somewhere at the end of The Jetty, but I’m not sure it’s worth getting to.”
The critic explained how the drama explores “difficult and important themes” such as “the grooming of young women and power imbalances in relationships.”
However, the show “loses its footing in an illogical and confusing plot that will have viewers shrugging in bewilderment rather than engaging with the deeper points of the script,” according to Ed.
He also suggested that despite Jenna’s strong performance, the slow plot and poor dialogue mean the show falls short of its goal.
THE I
The I’s television editor Emily Baker admitted that while the first episode is full of clichés, the four-part drama seemingly eventually gets back on track, leading to a “grim picture of misogyny, sexual exploitation and murder.”
The I’s Television editor Emily Baker admitted that while the first episode is riddled with clichés, the four-part drama seemingly eventually gets back on track, leading to a “grim picture of misogyny, sexual exploitation and murder.”
For Emily, “the ever-reliable Jenna Coleman is the glue that holds the series together,” as well as the “flashbacks where the drama really comes to life.”
Emily said: ‘TV has been crying out for a series like The Jetty, one that the whole country can really dive into and chat about at work the next day.
“I can’t remember the last time I was so enthralled by a BBC crime series,” the critic concluded.