Everything You Need to Know about Miss Scarlet & The Duke
London’s greatest investigator has arrived! Here’s the lowdown on the mystery series that injects Victorian London with a delicious detective-duo twist. Find out how to watch, who’s in the cast, and much more about Miss Scarlet & The Duke!
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What is Miss Scarlet & The Duke?
Most of the best detectives come in duos, but chances are there’s never been a duo quite as spicy and delightful as Eliza Scarlet and Inspector William Wellington…or a show that will check as many must-watch boxes as Miss Scarlet & The Duke! It’s a smart, edgy mystery series set in 1882 Victorian London, with a fearless, quick-witted, and sassy female aspiring detective facing all manner of obstacles, from Victorian conventions to the efforts of her rakish and wily longtime friend/competition/potential love interest! Over Season 1’s six episodes, you’ll root for Eliza and her ever-growing band of outsiders as she navigates a man’s world using her guile, wit, and intellect to crack the case and prove herself. And you’ll delight in the crackling will-they-won’t-they energy between Eliza and the Duke as they alternately help and infuriate one another!
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Who are Miss Scarlet and The Duke?
Eliza Scarlet is the whip-smart daughter of renowned London private detective Henry Scarlet, who raised her to believe that she might one day follow in his footsteps. When Henry suddenly dies, a heartbroken Eliza discovers his considerable debts, and her only option for survival is to take on the family business—which shouldn’t be so hard, considering the countless childhood hours spent at her father’s side learning the latest forensic techniques, and the countless hours she’s already putting in as a secret amateur sleuth! And though Victorian conventions conspire to keep Eliza—a woman!—from private investigation, she’ll use her pluck and guile to pay the bills and keep on her feet.
William Wellington, aka The Duke, was a fatherless child of London’s streets when Henry Scarlet saw promise in the boy and took him under his wing, mentoring him as he rose through the police academy to become Detective Inspector. Despite his suave demeanor, it’s William’s wily ways and street smarts that make him such a talented detective—and keep Eliza’s blood boiling! Years before, Henry tasked William with looking after Eliza, which has made their long relationship…complicated. At once an authority figure and a rakish ladies’ man, William is sometimes Eliza’s protector, sometimes her competition; sometimes her adversary and sometimes her partner. Whatever the dynamic, it’s always built on genuine caring—and quite often shot through with tantalizing tension.
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Where and When is it Set?
Set in gritty, foggy, Victorian London, Miss Scarlet & The Duke abounds with enough ruffians, corruption, and underground gangs keep Scotland Yard overworked (and to delight the most discerning mystery fan). But while Miss Scarlet sports the period’s requisite—and admittedly, fabulous—corseted fashions of a refined Victorian lady, she also possesses a feisty, edgy intellect and wit that make her feel oh-so contemporary as she shines through the Dickensian pea-soup fog. And there’s nothing even remotely Victorian in the punchy banter and delicious tension that Eliza and the Duke take beyond the drawing room to London’s worst crime scenes and even (gasp!) the morgue.
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Who's in the Cast?
The incomparable Eliza Scarlet is played by Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders, The Crown, the Downton Abbey movie), who MASTERPIECE viewers may remember from Wolf Hall and My Mother and Other Strangers, and Stuart Martin (Jamestown, Medici) plays rakish charmer William Wellington. Just a few of the other big talents in this ensemble include Kevin Doyle (Downton Abbey’s Molesley) as Eliza’s beloved father, Henry; and actor Ansu Kabia (The Long Song, World on Fire) as Eliza’s formidable antagonist/ally, Moses. Andrew Gower, the actor playing Eliza’s ambivalent wooer Rupert Parker, appeared in Poldark Season 5, while the actress behind Poldark‘s Morwenna, Ellise Chappell, has a guest turn in Episode 1. Longtime MASTERPIECE viewers may even recognize Mr. Selfridge‘s villainous Lord Loxley, Aidan McArdle, in Episode 1!
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How to Watch Miss Scarlet & The Duke
You can binge-watch the entire first season of Miss Scarlet & The Duke with PBS Passport, an added member benefit!
To keep up with all of Eliza’s latest cases and clashes with the Duke, and to learn breaking news about Miss Scarlet & The Duke and other MASTERPIECE shows you’re sure to love, sign up for the MASTERPIECE email newsletter!
