'Inspector Ellis' Sets Early November Release Date on Acorn

Acorn TV and Channel 5 have finally set a release date for the first season of Inspector Ellis, or Ellis, as it's called in the U.K. (American TV has a tradition of adding the "Inspector" to these sorts of show titles; think ITV's Morse and Lewis, which here ran on PBS as Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis.) Channel 5 will debut the series first, with the first episode arriving at the close of October and Acorn TV following a few days later at the beginning of November 2024.

The series stars Sharon D Clarke (Doctor Who) as the titular detective, whose job is a bit like an itinerant freelancer. She travels from county to county where unsolved murders have the local station stumped, witnesses are too scared to talk, or the station is simply too understaffed to handle, and tease out the truth from those who would prefer it stay buried. Clarke will be joined by co-star Andrew Gower (Miss Scarlet), who plays her bagman and fellow traveling bobby, DS Chet Harper. Ellis' loyal second in command, his duties range from buttering up the right people to smoothing the feathers ruffled by Ellis' arrival.

The series' first season, which runs three feature-length episodes, is a mystery-of-the-week style show (not unlike Van der Valk), which will feature Ellis and Harper arriving in different towns every week to figure out what's gone wrong with solving the case this time.