The first series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 10 October 2010 on ITV2. The series concluded on 10 November 2010 after 10 episodes. A Christmas special aired on 24 December 2010 and is included on the Series 1 DVD.

The second series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 20 March 2011 on ITV2. The series concluded on 4 May 2011 and consisted of 14 episodes. This was the final series to feature Amy Childs.

The third series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 25 September 2011 on ITV2. The series concluded on 9 November 2011 after 14 episodes. A Christmas Special aired on 20 December 2011 and is included on the Series 3 DVD. This series marked the departures original cast members Kirk Norcross, Mark Wright, Harry Derbridge and Maria Fowler.

The fourth series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 29 January 2012 on ITV2. also new characters are: Property Developer Georgina Dorsett, James ' Diags' Bennewith, Tom Kilbey and Ricky Rayment. Gemma Collins, Chloe Sims, Lauren Pope, Mario Falcone and Lucy Mecklenburgh were all promoted to the main cast from the 2011 Christmas Special, replacing Mark Wright, Kirk Norcross and Harry Derbidge. Georgio and Dino Georgiades returned for the fourth series after speculation they had been axed alongside Mick Norcross who will return for the first time without his son Kirk Norcross. The fourth series only consisted of 10 episodes concluding on 29 February. The series focused primarily on the relationships of Mario Falcone and Lucy Mecklenburgh, James "Arg" Argent and Lydia Bright, and focused greatly on newcomers Georgina Dorsett and Ricky Rayment, while continuing the format of the previous series. This was also the first series where the opening scenes changed to include silhouettes of the current characters, with the themetune playing on the background.

The fifth series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 15 April 2012 on ITV2. Lauren Goodger appeared in the first 5 episodes before being suspended from the show, she returned in episode 9. The series concluded on 27 May 2012 after 10 episodes. An hour long special following the cast in Marbella aired on 13 June.

The sixth series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 22 July 2012 on ITV2. The series concluded on 22 August 2012 after 10 episodes. This series marks the departure of original cast member Lauren Goodger, making her final appearance in the series finale. Former cast member Mark Wright, who last appeared in Series 3, made a cameo in this series eighth episode, but did not have a speaking part in the episode.

The seventh series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 30 September 2012 on ITV2. The series concluded after 10 episodes. Series 7 marked the first series not to feature original cast member Lauren Goodger, after her departure from the series in August 2012. It was confirmed that for the first time the entire cast from the previous series would all be returning. In the first episode original cast member Kirk Norcross who appeared in the first three series made a return. Tom Fletcher from the band McFly appeared in episode 4. The series concluded on 31 October and was the fourth and final series to air in 2012. It was announced on 13 November 2012 that three festive specials would air in December 2012, with one episode being broadcast live. The festive specials concluded on 19 December. On 14 December it was confirmed that Mark Wright would make a cameo appearance in the 2012 Christmas special, making it his second return to the show briefly appearing in one episode in series 6. On 19 December Lydia Bright confirmed she would be departing from the series and made her final appearance in the Christmas special. Episode 11 and the TOWIE Live episodes do not appear on the series 7 DVD for unknown reasons although the 2012 Christmas special appears.

The eighth series of The Only Way Is Essex, a British semi-reality television programme, began airing on 24 February 2013 on ITV2. The series consisted of 12 episodes. Series 8 marked the first series not to feature Lydia Bright, after her departure from the series in December 2012. The series also saw the departure of numerous supporting cast members and introduced new supporting cast members. On 7 March 2013, Mecklenburgh confirmed via her Twitter account that Amy and Sally Broadbent had been used by the show and had been dropped from the cast.On 8 March 2013 Mick Norcross who has appeared from the second series announced his departure from the show. This series also saw the departure of Kirk Norcross for the second time after announcing on Twitter that he had quit the show on 21 March 2013. Cast member Debbie Douglas also announced her departure from the show via Twitter on 29 March 2013.

The Only Way Is Essex is a reality series which follows some people living in Essex, including a club promoter, a would-be model, a member of a girl band and two bar workers. Each episode features action filmed just a few days previously.