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.