First look at The Bay's new lead Marsha Thomason as DS Jenn Townsend as season 3 filming begins

The White Collar and Cobra star will play DS Jenn Townsend in the popular crime drama, a family liaison officer who struggles to balance her family’s house move alongside the pressures of her new role.

The first-look image doesn't give too much away about the character, showing her standing and facing the camera, wearing a brown overcoat.

Meanwhile, the show's executive producer, Catherine Oldfield, said, "Daragh [Carville, writer] and I always felt that there were so many brilliant stories to be told in the world of The Bay so, after Morven decided to leave the show, we got straight to work finding a new lead actor.

"From the moment Marsha read for the part we knew it was ‘game over’ and we’d found our new lead, DS Townsend. We are so excited to see Marsha bring these stories to life.”

Thomason won't be the only new face in the cast for the third run, with Gary Lewis (Outlander, Rig 45), Rina Mahoney (Eleventh Hour) and Vincent Regan (300, Troy) among those set to appear as guests stars.

Other actors with roles in the series will include Barry Sloane (Six, Revenge), Mark Stanley (White House Farm, Honour), Michael Karim (The Rook, Jekyll & Hyde), Zahra Ahmadi (Marcella, The Beast Must Die), Ash Tandon (Bodyguard, The Fantastic Flitcrofts), Nadeem Islam (See Hear) and Georgia Scholes (Hollyoaks).

A further two actors, David Carpenter and Emme Haynes, will be also making their professional debuts.

The third series is co-written by series creator Carville (Being Human) and Furquan Akhtar and is currently in production, with no official date given for its return to screens as yet.

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