Tamara Lawrance Thrills in the 'Get Millie Black' Trailer
Tamara Lawrance as Det Millie Black in 'Get Millie Black'
HBO
The U.K.'s most popular export in recent years seems to have become police procedural shows. From your bog-standard Father Brown to high-concept series like Magpie Murders, stories of those drawing order from a chaotic universe are all the rage, whether they are "cozy crime" series like Grantchester, social commentary like Unforgotten, or propulsive thrillers like D.I. Ray. Being tapped to lead your own crime series is a bit of an honor, Sharon D Clarke (Doctor Who), who currently stars in Inspector Ellis, said as much in her interview with us. But she's not the only Black woman who leads a new series this fall; over on HBO and Max, Tamara Lawrance (The Long Song) is also leading a new series as the titular detective in Get Millie Black.
The show hails from Marlon James, a Jamaican author known for such novels as A Brief History of Seven Killings (for which he won the Man Booker Prize). Get Millie Black is not adapted from any of his novels but an idea inspired by his family's own history. “My mother was one of the first policewomen in Jamaica to make detective,” James said when the series was initially greenlit. “Storytelling has always struck me first and foremost as a mystery to be solved—which I’m sure I got from her. Millie, from the second she appeared in my imagination, was a brilliant, mercurial, hilarious, unpredictable force of nature; someone who was always there, just waiting for her story to be told. I didn’t create her; I found her.”
The new series is currently listed as "limited," but everyone knows HBO converts limited series into seasonal ones if they're a hit. If the full-length trailer is anything to go by, we should be preparing for HBO to announce a Season 2 sooner rather than later.
Here’s the synopsis:
Get Millie Black explores the troubled legacy of racism, slavery, sexuality, classism and cycles of trauma in the post-colonial landscape of Britain and Jamaica, told through the unique perspective of Millie – a girl born on the Rock and raised in London who claims to be both British and Jamaican, yet somehow belongs to neither place.
The series follows ex-Scotland Yard detective Millie-Jean Black, who returns to Kingston, Jamaica, to work missing persons cases, soon finding herself on a quest to save a sibling who won’t be saved, to find a child who can’t be found, and to solve a case that will blow her world apart and prove almost as tough to crack as herself.
Lawrance co-stars alongside Joe Dempsie (Sherwood), Gershwyn Eustache Jr. (Joan), Karen Smyth (We Live In Time), Anjli Mohindra (The Lazarus Project), Sam Buchanan (Such Brave Girls), Emma Cater (The Devil's Hour), Nestor Aaron Absera (One Love), Paul Issa (Heaven Wants Out), and small-screen newcomers Shernet Swearine, Peter John Thwaite and Chyna McQueen.
Series creator Marlon James penned episodes with Joshua St. Johnston, Theresa Ikoko, and Lydia Adetunji. Director Tanya Hamilton (Berlin Station) split helming duties with Annetta Laufer. James and St. Johnson executive produce alongside Leopoldo Gout and Simon Maxwell for Motive Pictures.
Get Millie Black will debut at 9 p.m. ET on Monday, November 24, 2025, on HBO and Max and will air/stream weekly through the end of the year.
