Posted in: TV | Tagged: bleeding cool, cable, crime series, detective series, Kate Philips, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, PBS Masterpiece, Rachael New, Stewart Martin, streaming, television, tv, Victorian mystery

Miss Scarlet and the Duke: The Best Show You Missed Has Been Renewed

Miss Scarlet and the Duke is the best detective show you're not watching right now. It stars Kate Phillips as the first female detective in Victorian London and Stuart Martin as the Scotland Yard detective she has to use as a front to get ahead in a sexist society. The show has proven so popular on PBS in the US that PBS Masterpiece has renewed it for a second season. However, A+E Networks International, which launched the series as its first global scripted co-production will no longer be involved in the show.

The series launched in January as part of Masterpiece's 50th-anniversary lineup with some 3.6M viewers streaming it digitally and ended its first 6-episode season with 8 million viewers, which is more than most CW shows.

Miss Scarlet and The Duke was created by Grantchester writer Rachael New, who also serves as showrunner. The six-episode series stars Phillips as Eliza Scarlet, who takes over her father's detective agency when he dies. Penniless in a time where marriage is her only option for financial security, the headstrong Eliza is determined to become a successful private detective. Eliza knows all the tricks of the trade but as a genteel 19th-century lady she's never been allowed to practice them in public. So she picks a partner: Scotland Yard detective Inspector William Wellington, played by Stuart Martin, who is also known as "The Duke." A former protégé of her father's and her childhood friend, Wellington is a drinker, gambler, and womanizer who's only marginally less sexist towards Eliza than every other man is. So of course  the two of them make a mismatched, bickering pair full of sexual tension as they team up to solve crime in the murkiest depths of 1880's London. Fans of Sherlock and British period mysteries have their thirst fed with this show.

The second season will air in the U.S. in 2022. It is now being produced by Element 8 Entertainment and Masterpiece in association with Patrick Irwin and Todd Berger. Rachael New and Ben Edwards are the writers with Steve Hughes as lead director. PBS Distribution will sell the show globally.

"Miss Scarlet and The Duke was an instant fan favorite," said Susanne Simpson, executive producer of Masterpiece. "Our audience couldn't resist its light-hearted tone and the appealing characters so wonderfully portrayed by Kate Phillips and Stuart Martin. We're delighted the show will return for a second season."

Rachael New said, "I'm absolutely thrilled at the news that Miss Scarlet and The Duke will be back for a season two. I have so much in store for Duke, Eliza, and her crew. With even more action, adventure, and of course a nice big dollop of romance, it's going to be a cracking season. The fans are going to love it."

"We have found our dream partners in Masterpiece and PBS Distribution," added Patricia Lenahan Ishimoto, Managing Partner, Element 8. "They have embraced the series and given us the gift of creative license to continue to unfold the magic that Rachael New has so thoughtfully crafted for Eliza, Duke, and their eclectic band of friends. We can't wait to see what she has in store for them."

Source: Deadline

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