'The Chelsea Detective' Returns for Season 2 on Acorn TV

Polish the silver and get out the vintage wine; The Chelsea Detective is about to return. Acorn TV's police procedural starring Adrian Scarborough (Sanditon) as DI Max Arnold, the detective inspector assigned to London's ritzy Chelsea neighborhood, has a premiere date for 2023, and it's timed to cheer us up before the end of the summer. With a new partner and a new set of crimes to solve (and more ostentatiously wealthy suspects to roll his eyes at), Arnold is ready to take on the U.K. upper classes and solve the mysteries they'd rather keep under their expensive rugs.

Season 1 of The Chelsea Detective featured Arnold getting a newly assigned partner at the Chelsea-based station, DC Priya Shamsie, played by Sonita Henry (Luther). His working-class background, including his current situation living in the Thames houseboat community after separating from his wife, gave him an unimpressed attitude towards London's most affluent elite, whom he found himself investigating weekly. Shamsie's innocence at how the other half lived contrasted with Arnold's jaded opinions of their victims and suspects.

However, after the first set of episodes, Henry moved on, leaving Arnold to start Season 2 with a new co-star, Vanessa Emme (Three Families), as DS Layla Walsh. The show's synopsis describes the character as "sharp," suggesting that Arnold will be gaining a partner in snark and crime-solving.

Here's the Season 2 synopsis:

Season Two brings new cases for Detective Inspector Max Arnold and the team to investigate. Max is joined by sharp and quick-witted Detective Sergeant Layla Walsh from Exeter police. Layla quickly gets used to Max’s unique style and will occasionally roll her eyes at the worst excesses of Chelsea.

The rest of the team from Season 1 will join Emme and Scarborough for this second outing, including Peter Bankolé (Peaky Blinders) as DC Connor Pollock, Lucy Phelps (DI Ray) as DC Jess Lombard, and Sophie Stone (The Crown) as Chief Forensics Officer Ashley Wilton. Outside the precinct, Anamaria Marinca (Tin Star) will return as Max's ex-wife Astrid as she and Arnold settle into their separated lives; Frances Barber, who also stars in Whitstable Pearl, also returns as Max's Aunt Olivia Arnold.

The Chelsea Detective Season 2 will premiere exclusively on Acorn TV (no AMC+ or BBC America crossover for this one) on Monday, August 28, 2023, and stream as a weekly release through September.