NOW ENTERTAINMENT Jan. 12 Month 00- -18, 00,2025 2023
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A Victorian detective (Kate Phillips, “Peaky Blinders”) solves cases without her trusted partner (Stuart Martin, “Army of Thieves,” 2021) in Season 5 of “Miss Scarlet” (formerly “Miss Scarlet & the Duke”), premiering Sunday, Jan. 16, on PBS Masterpiece. Kate Phillips stars in “Miss Scarlet”
Cover Story Ditching the ‘Duke’: ‘Miss Scarlet’ returns solo for Season 5 By Dana Simpson Since April 2020, fans of British period pieces and crime fiction have been delighting in the wit and whims of Victorian-era private investigator Eliza Scarlet (Kate Phillips, “Peaky Blinders”) and her policing partner DI William Wellington (Stuart Martin, “Army of Thieves,” 2021). With four complete six-episode seasons under its belt, PBS’s “Miss Scarlet & the Duke” has continued to captivate audiences over the past four and a half years — particularly as a series of pandemic-related lockdowns kept audiences at home, and often glued to their televisions, in the early days of the show. Now back for a fifth season, Eliza — the strong, independent woman she is — continues to handle matters on her own, with the Duke nowhere to be seen. Season 5 of “Miss Scarlet,” formerly “Miss Scarlet & the Duke,” premieres Sunday, Jan. 12, on PBS. Check your local listings for details.
Created by “Trollied” and “The Mallorca Files” writer Rachael New, “Miss Scarlet & the Duke” began by following Eliza in the wake of her father’s death. A well-respected detective who ran his own agency, Eliza’s father’s sudden death left her essentially penniless and on the cusp of making a self-defining choice in the first episode of the series: either find herself a husband to depend on financially (it is Victorian-era England, after all) or take up her father’s mantel and assume the responsibilities of the detective agency against all odds and gossip (again: Victorian England). Opting for the latter, as she was already in the business and in no rush to secure herself a husband, Eliza soon calls upon a longtime friend and Scotland Yard detective for help: William Wellington, also known simply as “The Duke.” Throughout the remaining 23 episodes to date (the most recent of which, the Season 4 finale, aired Feb. 11, 2024, on
PBS), Eliza and Duke solved cases of all sizes and subject matter, from theft and blackmail to gang violence and murder. Having a police detective on her side meant that Eliza had many resources at her beck and call — not to mention someone she trusted to back her up in times of danger. But now, in Season 5, things have changed once again for Eliza, and she has to start back at ground zero with Scotland Yard. While audiences don’t know what is coming down the pike for the diligent detective, existing fans of the show will remember (spoilers!) that in Episode 4 of Season 4, titled “The Diamond Feather,” Duke professed his love to Eliza and then promptly left for New York City, where a job with the local police force awaited him. Claiming that his London-based job around Eliza made it too difficult for him to separate his romantic feelings from his work, that heartbreaking moment was the last audiences saw of Duke.
Despite some followers of the show craving the romantic coupling of the two characters, Duke’s departure — much like Eliza’s father’s death — gave the character some agency, albeit this time, agency of a more political kind. Duke’s decision to leave for America was his own, just as Stuart Martin, the actor portraying Duke, chose to leave “Miss Scarlet & the Duke.” Interestingly enough, they reportedly both left their respective positions because of Eliza Scarlet. “It has been such an incredible joy to bring Duke to life through Rachael [New]’s beautiful, brilliant writing and to get to play him for the past four years,” Martin said via a PBS news release ahead of Season 5. “But it felt like the time was right for Scarlet to explore new stories and challenges for now, as the show continues to grow and evolve.”
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