Newly Rechristened 'Miss Scarlet' to Get Early PBS Passport Release
Television series reinvent themselves all the time. Whether for narrative or behind-the-scenes reasons, change is hardwired into the nature of this business, and anyone who's loved a long-running series knows this. However, for PBS's Miss Scarlet and the Duke fans, some considerable adjustments are headed their way in the series' forthcoming fifth season, which follows the adventures of Eliza Scarlet (Kate Phillips), the only female detective in Victorian London. For one thing, it's just Miss Scarlet now. The title change comes on the heels of the exit of star Stuart Martin, a move which alters the core DNA of the show in ways that will likely take many episodes to be fully felt. After all, the show's original premise was built on the relationship in its (former) title, and the answer to what it will ultimately look like without it is still a work in progress.
However, Eliza won't be entirely alone in the new season. The show has also cast Tom Durant Pritchard (This Is Going to Hurt) as the handsome former soldier turned new Scotland Yard Detective Alexander Blake, who strangely bears a striking physical resemblance to William Wellington and a surprisingly progressive attitude toward women in the eighteenth-century workplace. If this sounds like the show is simply swapping one flavor of crime-solving sexual tension for another, well... they may well be.
But at least fans won't have to wait much longer to find out. Masterpiece has announced that Season 5 of Miss Scarlet will officially arrive on our screens on Sunday, January 12, 2025, immediately followed by the fifth season premiere of All Creatures Great and Small. However, for local PBS station members, the wait will only last a few weeks, as the series will receive an early release on PBS Passport beginning Sunday, December 8, 2024, the second time the series has arrived early on streaming. (The series did this once before when Season 3's premiere arrived on PBS Passport a mere week after Season 2 concluded.)
