In Under Salt Marsh, every little detail counts as Jackie Ellis and Eric Bull get to work trying to figure out this small town mystery. Behind the scenes, that job lies in the hands of executive producer Elwen Rowlands.

With the Welsh coastal village becoming a character onto itself – holding secrets and details that threaten to be washed away at a moment’s notice, Rowlands worked alongside creator Claire Oakley to make sure the series was picture perfect.

Speaking ahead of the series launch, Rowlands details her working relationship with Oakley, the message the team hoped to portray, and the challenges that came with filming so close to the sea.

It’s a crime drama set in a coastal Welsh town at imminent risk from flooding. When a young boy is found dead, Jackie Ellis, a schoolteacher and former detective, is forced to reunite with her old police partner, Eric Bull, to solve the case before the evidence is washed away. At its heart, though, it’s also about community and what survives when everything else is slipping away.

I came across Claire’s debut feature film Make Up and absolutely loved it. I admired the way she combined genre with grounded realism. She had such a unique vision and lens on the world.

Claire is a truly visionary creator. We talked extensively about themes and ideas we wanted to explore for TV, and out of those conversations came Under Salt Marsh. She wrote the first draft, and it was one of those rare scripts that gives you goosebumps — the characters just leapt off the page. We brought Sky on board, and the project grew from there.

The show carries a strong message of hope and resilience. Jackie and Bull’s relationship mirrors that of the wider community — when the toughest things happen, they pull together. It’s about a town under huge threat, yet determined to overcome tragedy.

It has an incredible rural beauty — vast landscapes, mountains, and the sea. It’s cinematic in scale, but with a raw, unique beauty.

Resilience, protecting children and communities, and safeguarding the future. It’s also a gentle reflection on climate change — how we must protect the world for future generations.

Jackie is a force of nature. She’s a protector — of her community, her family, and the children she teaches. But she carries guilt from the past: her niece Nessa disappeared while Jackie was a police officer, a case never solved. Teaching is her way of protecting future generations. Across the series, she battles grief and guilt, ultimately finding the fight to seek truth, justice, and forgiveness.

Eric is a brilliant detective, though not great with people. He likes to impose order on chaos, even cataloguing elements of the natural world like mushrooms. He was the investigator on Nessa’s case, so returning to Morfa is deeply painful. His journey is one of reconciliation with Jackie and learning to open up to the wider community. The show is really about their platonic friendship blossoming.

Kelly is a formidable Jackie — combining fierce energy with composed fragility. She was deeply invested in Jackie’s journey of forgiveness. Rafe brought a vital dark humour to Eric Bull, balancing the show’s darker themes with lightness. His ability to move between tortured and playful is phenomenal.

We were thrilled to attract such talent — Kelly Reilly, Rafe Spall, Jonathan Pryce, Naomi Yang, Harry Lawtey, Mark Stanley, and brilliant Welsh actors like Kimberley Nixon, Rhodri Meilir, Julian Lewis Jones, and Dino Fetscher. It’s a phenomenal ensemble.

Morfa Halen is a rugged coastal town with a close-knit community. It’s full of secrets but also warmth. People feel they should leave, but the place has an incredible pull. Families have lived there for generations, while others have moved in from across Wales and the UK. It feels authentic, precarious, but deeply loved.

We worked with scouts who hadn’t filmed in that region before, so they brought fresh eyes. We wanted epic landscapes to make the community feel small against the wild beauty. We filmed largely at the Mawddach estuary in North Wales, avoiding anything too twee. Other standout locations include Newborough Beach in Anglesey, Fairbourne Beach, Dylan’s house on the salt marsh, and Spider Island — a collection of wooden huts we built in-studio.

Transport was tough, and we weathered two real storms. But it bonded everyone, much like the residents of Morfa. Continuity of water and weather was a huge challenge, especially for big scenes like the vigil in episode two. And flooding the village centre meant putting cast and crew into waist-deep freezing water in January — but the results are stunning.

They explore truth and morality. Audiences love seeing hidden secrets revealed. For me, it’s always about the characters — the crime is the hook, but the people keep us watching.

It’s a crime drama without a single scene in a police station. The story is told through the people and the place, not the system. That makes it unique.

I hope they reflect on their own communities — how we are at our best when we pull together, forgive, and protect the future for our children.

Haunting, human, and redemptive