Under Salt Marsh: Sky's tense new crime drama could be the perfect replacement for Olivia Colman's Broadchurch - here's why

Under Salt Marsh is dropping on Sky Atlantic and NOW on January 30, 2026. It could be your next obsession, especially if you are still pining for Broadchurch days.

Claire Oakley is running the show here, and she has plopped us into a moody, fictional Welsh seaside town called Morfa Halen. Kelly Reilly (from Yellowstone) plays Jackie Ellis, a once-detective-turned-teacher who stumbles across the body of her eight-year-old student, Cefin. The kid looks like he drowned. And if that wasn’t enough, this disaster drags up the ghosts of another nightmare: Jackie’s niece Nessa vanished three years back, a tragedy that nuked Jackie’s career and drove her family.

Now, a once-in-a-generation storm is rolling in, threatening to wash away every scrap of evidence, and Jackie is forced to team up with her old police partner, Eric Bull, played by Rafe Spall. So, you have a claustrophobic little town clinging to the cliffs, secrets bubbling up, and nature itself raging in the background.

If you are still wearing black for Broadchurch’s funeral, this might be your new fix. That show wrecked people with its ‘small town, big tragedy’ theme. David Tennant and Olivia Colman played main roles, and Broadchurch garnered awards and secured a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

So, is Under Salt Marsh copying the formula? Well, sure, it has the same coastal town, devastating crime, and everyone has secrets theme. But something about it is fresh, since it has its own broken heart beating underneath. If you are into shadowy mysteries, stormy cliffs, and communities with way too much to hide, this one is calling your name.

Why Under Salt Marsh could be your next Broadchurch obsession

Under Salt Marsh and Broadchurch echo each other, except it’s not a copy-paste on the surface. Both of them start with a grim discovery: a dead kid, a sleepy coastal town suddenly anything but peaceful, and secrets everywhere. Broadchurch opens with Danny Latimer, just eleven, found dead on the beach. That one act tears Broadchurch apart. People start whispering, and the whole place goes off the rails.

Then you have Under Salt Marsh, and it’s déjà vu. Young Cefin turns up drowned (or so it seems), and Morfa Halen is traumatized. But it’s not just about Cefin, they can’t shake what happened with Nessa, who vanished three years ago.

What hooks you with both shows isn’t the whodunit angle. They dig way deeper. It’s about everything that comes after: the grief, the paranoia, and the way trust evaporates. Broadchurch nailed this, especially with Beth and Mark Latimer. Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan made the pain feel real. Under Salt Marsh looks set to do that too, but with a an extra layer, since the town is still aching from Nessa’s disappearance. So, both series serve up murder mysteries, but what makes them cling is how they show trauma sticking around, seeping into everything.

The detective duos in both shows is where the good stuff lives. Broadchurch nails it with DI Hardy and DS Miller. They bounce off each other in the best ways, with Hardy grumping around while Miller being the town’s unofficial therapist. That outsider-vs-local theme is not just there for show; it actually turns into a satisfying partnership.

Now, Under Salt Marsh is an echo of that formula, but with its own twist. Jackie Ellis and Eric Bull, ex-partners, are dragging around baggage because of Nessa’s case. Jackie is trying to live a normal life as a teacher, but she can’t escape the town or her past. Bull, on the other hand, rolls back in all outsider-ish, clearly hoping for a redemption arc. Their forced reunion is the point. It’s like Broadchurch with extra salt in the wounds.

And the coastal settings matter as much. In Broadchurch, the Dorset cliffs do half the acting, gorgeous one minute, absolutely foreboding the next. You look at those waves and you just know the town has secrets under every rock. The camera lingers on those landscapes like they are about to spill the truth any second.

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Under Salt Marsh is playing the same game. Morfa Halen is stuck between mountains and the sea, and there is a literal storm on the horizon, threatening to wash away clues. It’s the sort of thing that elevates the tension. Not only are the people barely holding it together, but the environment is one step away from eating them alive. The storm isn’t just weather; it’s stress, gossip, suspicion, all rolled into one big metaphorical wave. Secrets don’t stand a chance, and neither do the people keeping them.

Even though Under Salt Marsh borrows a bunch from Broadchurch, it’s not recycling the same old formula. The big twist is that goes for a dual timeline. Broadchurch had one crime at a time, like Danny’s case in season one, then something else the next go-round. Under Salt Marsh ties two mysteries together: Cefin’s death and Nessa’s disappearance three years ago.

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