The Bay viewers react to season 2 premiere

From Good Housekeeping

The Bay spoilers ahead.

The Bay series 2 premiered on ITV last night, and viewers were blown away by the shock twist in the opening episode.

The crime drama returns with Morven Christie as DC Lisa Armstrong, Taheen Modak as DS Ahmed 'Med' Kharim, and Daniel Ryan as DI Tony Manning, as they head up a new investigation involving a shocking murder within a seemingly loving family.

The series appeared to set up Stephen Marshbrook (Stephen Tompkinson) as a principal character, only for him to be dramatically killed him off to kickstart a major whodunnit.

Viewers expressed their surprise at the well-known actor being bumped off in episode 1, with some announcing that they were immediately hooked and would be heading to ITV Hub to binge the whole series.

Writer Daragh Carville recently explained that he wanted something really "shocking" to start the show off, to mirror the unexpected twist that happened in the opening episode of the first series. (Lisa was assigned as a Family Liaison Officer to a man whose stepchildren have gone missing, and with whom she happened to have a one night stand with the night before).

"What happens in the first series, the fact that Lisa is involved with the guy who's part of the family, I absolutely knew that we could never do that kind of story again, where there’s that kind of deep personal compromise involved," Daragh told Digital Spy and other outlets.

"So it was about creating a new kind of crime story where our team would be plunged in at the deep end with a sudden shocking crime that shatters a family. So it had to start from something like that and I was delighted when Stephen came on board. That made it even more exciting."

Viewers were also spotting some familiar faces in the cast, including EastEnders' former Peter Beale Thomas Law, Coronation Street star Amy James-Kelly, who is playing Grace Marshbrook, a member of the grieving family, and ex-EastEnder Joe Absolom, playing Andy Warren.

The Bay continues on Wednesday, January 27, on ITV at 9pm.

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