Yahoo News The Bay writer discusses that twist in ITV's gripping crime drama
The Bay begins with two children being reported missing in a small-knit community and a well-liked Detective Superintendent volunteering as a family liaison officer, reluctantly accompanied by a lesser-experienced Detective Constable in need of shadowing.
Living and working in Morecambe Bay, Morven Christie's DS Lisa Armstrong is a conscientious copper and single mother who struggles to balance her demanding job with her challenging teenage children.
So far, it feels like a crime drama that we've all seen and loved before.
But a one-night stand with a man she meets in the pub after a night out threatens to bulldoze Lisa's professional and personal life when she later discovers, to her horror, that the man in question (Sean – Jonas Armstrong) is in fact the stepdad of the two missing children, and he's also expecting a child with the frantic mother Meredith (played by Chanel Cresswell).
Related: ITV’s The Bay: Who are the main suspects?
Instead of coming clean or admitting to her boss that there is a major conflict of interest at play, Lisa tunnels into denial and sticks on the case.
Writer Daragh Carville reflects on the shock twist in episode one, and reveals why Lisa doesn't say anything, despite having ample opportunities to do so.
"I think that [the question why] is something that will continue to be a question in the show, it's a question in Lisa's own mind because there is a point where she can say, 'I can't be a part of this because of a conflict of interest', and I think it's absolutely truthful that she doesn't," Carville told Digital Spy.
"And it's to do with who she is and her commitment to this family actually. It's something that bubbles under for the rest of the series."
Viewers are introduced to Lisa when she's off-duty and out having fun with friends, which offers a very different side to the professional one she projects as a high-ranking officer at work.
"I wanted to meet her outside of work and I love that they go to a karaoke bar and I just wanted to write her having fun, having a perfectly normal night out," Carville continued.
"She gets off with somebody and why not? That's fine. Until later, and she hasn't done anything wrong, but it becomes much more complicated than that. And then she has to investigate this crime, but also cover her own tracks."
Speaking previously about Lisa's fallibility and complex nature, Christie told Digital Spy and others: "It's quite arresting being introduced to the leading character while she's making dramatic mistakes.
"She has to unpick things, unravel things to cover up the things she's done. Alongside that, she's really good at this job, but I also found her believable. A lot of the time with leading characters there's a legend created around them in the script that [makes them] not that believable as human beings, and I just bought this person.
"This is someone I believe as being real."
The Bay continues on ITV on Wednesday (March 27) at 9pm.
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