The Jetty creator explains queer ‘love affair’ between Caitlin and Amy in BBC crime thriller

New crime thriller The Jetty looks set to become the must-watch series of the month, and it features a queer teen romance with an “incredibly tragic” twist.

Written and created by Cat Jones, the four-part series follows detective Ember Manning, played The Sandman and Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman, as she investigates a suspicious fire at a lakeside property in Lancashire.

But the suspected arson is more than just a one-time crime. As Manning’s investigation develops, she realises that it’s linked to both a historical cold case of a missing teenage girl and ongoing grooming offences in the town.

Across two timelines, the truth about the past and future unravel together, with Manning left to reflect on whether her own youthful experiences were as moral as she’s always thought.

Alongside Manning, two of the lead characters in the past timeline are teen students and would-be lovers Caitlin (Bad Education’s Laura Marcus) and Amy (Renegade Nell star Bo Bragason).

In the first episode, Caitlin, somewhat a loner at school, is drawn in by the outwardly wayward and internally vulnerable Amy – who is in an inappropriate relationship with a grown man, Malachy, played by House of the Dragon and Tolkien star Tom Glynn-Carney.

Despite a rocky beginning, Amy try and Caitlin spend an increasing amount of time together, and their feelings for each another grow.

Are Caitlin and Amy queer in The Jetty?

“I do think it is a love affair,” writer Cat Jones exclusively told PinkNews ahead of the first episode. “Although it begins in this very cruel and manipulative way – Amy effectively recruits Caitlin and realises that Caitlin has some attraction towards her, weaponises that against her, and uses her – what Amy is not anticipating is that she does end up having feelings for Caitlin.”

While Amy is portrayed as the more unbothered and incendiary of the two, Jones said the fact she is so “troubled” means she doesn’t realise how she feels about Caitlin until “it’s too late”.

Jones went on to say: “Had she met Caitlin under different circumstances, it would be a different outcome. There is something incredibly tragic about the fact that it’s just out of reach, that something good [and] quite special between them is just out of reach.”

Part of the LGBTQ+ community herself, Jones has billed The Jetty as a coming-of-age story as much as a crime thriller.

“In a way, we’re telling her coming out story with Caitlin, but equally, it’s a coming out story with Amy,” Jones continued. 

“Although it’s more obvious that Caitlin is queer and struggling to come out… they’re both working out who they are. It’s always difficult to watch those stories, especially when you’ve written that story, and you’re drawing upon your own experiences.”

The chemistry between actors Bo Bragason and Laura Marcus was palpable, Jones added.

“The chemistry between them as actors, as people as well, was evident and they brought that to the performance. It was a wonderful thing, but I guess there’s always something bitter-sweet about watching a story of somebody struggling with their sexuality.”

How to watch the series

All episodes of The Jetty are available on BBC iPlayer now. The series will air on BBC One at 9pm on Monday (15 July) and Tuesday (16 July), with the final two episodes a week later.

It’s fairly uncommon to see a detective show feature a queer sort-of couple so heavily. For Jones, that was part of the appeal of writing in Caitlin and Amy.

“Anybody who says: ‘Well, we’re beyond needing to see coming out stories or needing to tell stories with queer characters that are about being queer’ is not watching what’s going on,” she said, referring to the current anti-LGBTQ+ climate around the world.

“Our rights are at risk, so bringing queer characters to a BBC One audience, who are perhaps not as used to watching those characters, and saying: ‘Look at her, the love she feels, and look at the choices she makes. She is no different from you’, that’s an important thing.”