The Only Way Is Essex
British reality television series

The Only Way Is Essex (often abbreviated as TOWIE ) is a British reality television series based in Brentwood, Essex, England. It shows "real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way." Broadcast on ITV2 from 2010, the series was moved to ITVBe in October 2014 and moved back to ITV2 in 2025. The first series consisted of 10 episodes and ran for 30 minutes, with a Christmas special following later in the year. Due to popularity, the runtime was extended to 45-minute episodes and renewed for a year's airing. On 22 May 2011, the series won the Audience Award at the 2011 BAFTA Awards.
On 13 March 2016, ITVBe aired a one-off documentary hosted by former cast member Mark Wright, discussing the history of the series. On 28 February 2017, with the announcement of the cast for the show's twentieth series, it was confirmed that instead of the usual three series per year, ITVBe would only be airing two series, but with more episodes.
Series
Cast
This is a list of the main and supporting cast members currently appearing in the series. From series 1 to 3, the main cast received star billing in the opening credits and were credited by their first names.
Broadcast
From the programme's inception in 2010 until 2014, it was broadcast on ITV2.
“The Only Way Is Essex” enters the record as british reality television series. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Only, Essex and British can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1532410. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010, 2014, 2025 and 2011.
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This entry incorporates text from “The Only Way Is Essex” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.