'I felt like I knew who Ember was from the first page'

Pregnant actress Jenna Coleman talks about her new detective thriller The Jetty and the joy of working with an all-female team

- LAUREN MORRIS

Jenna Coleman is beaming with joy as she poses on the BBC’s red carpet – but it’s not just her upcoming detective drama The Jetty that she’s excited to show off. The former Doctor Who star is cradling her baby bump, having announced last month that she’s expecting her first child with partner Jamie Childs.

After having high-profile relationships with The Bodyguard’s Richard Madden and her Victoria co-star Tom Hughes, Jenna, 38, has now found happiness with filmmaker Jamie, 35. They started dating in 2020 after the pair worked on Netflix’s fantasy drama The Sandman together.

With a baby on the way, Jenna’s latest project has been the perfect preparation for motherhood. She stars in BBC One’s intriguing new crime series The Jetty as Ember Manning – a detective and mum who begins to discover her late husband’s mysterious past when she works on a decades-old missing person case.

“She’s investigating a case which becomes very personal to her,” Jenna says. “It’s a very character, human and relationship-driven drama that’s wrapped up as a detective thriller.”

When a lakeside property in Ember’s Lancashire town is destroyed by a fire, Ember learns that it is connected to the case of Amy Knightly, a teenager who disappeared years before after an illicit relationship with an older man. “The Jetty asks probing questions about identity, sexual boundaries, sexual politics and the awakening of one’s self,” Jenna adds. While Jenna is pregnant in her late thirties, her character Ember had her teenage daughter Hannah (played by Bridgerton’s Ruby Stokes) when she was just 17. The Blackpool-born actress admits that she learnt a lot from a friend, who was a young mum, for the role.