At the beginning of Miss Scarlet and the Duke, Eliza Scarlet (Kate Phillips) meets with a young boy who tells her about a dead woman. She approaches the woman and searches for evidence. She picks up the woman’s false eye only to find out that the woman is only drunk and not dead. This leads to scuffle and Eliza offers to give the woman her eye back. The woman eventually cracks her head against the wall and is knocked out. Eliza leaves after ridiculing the young boy. Then, she finds Mr. and Mrs. Parker in their home. They’ve been looking for her and her father so Rupert can speak with him privately. They discuss the streets of London becoming worse in terms of crime.

During their conversation, the eyeball falls out of Eliza’s sleeve before she quickly picks it up and hides it. After the conversation, the couple decides to leave without speaking with Eliza’s father. Ivy escorts them out. After they’re gone, Eliza pleads with Ivy (Cathy Belton) to kept her work a secret from her father but Ivy knows her father won’t like her working as a private detective. Kitty enters and tells them that Mr. Meekins refused to sell them pork because their account is overdue but Eliza doesn’t believe that. She heads outside and runs into Herr Hildegard. She asks him if he has seen her father and he says he hasn’t in a few days. Then, she enters the office of her father Henry Scarlet who is a private detective.

Eliza looks through the office and finds a bottle of alcohol and a handful of notes. After that, William Wellington (Stuart Martin) learns from Frank Jenkins (Danny Midwinter) that Eliza is there to see him. He tries to lie to have her sent away for Eliza isn’t having it. She barges inside and tells Duke that her father has gone missing. Eliza tells Duke that her household is reliant on her father before their conversation turns to Eliza’s hobby of pretending to be a detective. Duke isn’t sure a woman should be seeing the type of things he has to see. They chat about one of Duke’s cases and Eliza gives him advice before she leaves. Duke listens to Eliza’s advice and tells Frank to bring in the victim’s wife for questioning.

Eliza returns home and learns that Mr. Scarlet is in the drawing room so she checks on her father Henry (Kevin Doyle) and finds him with Doctor Edwards (Barry McKiernan). Henry had a cardiac arrest and has passed. A funeral is held for Henry immediately after that. William Duke speaks with Eliza after the funeral and tells her that Henry was his mentor among other things. He tries to comfort her by saying Henry is now reunited with the woman he loved. Back at home, Eliza gets a visit from someone who is looking for her father. The man introduces himself as Alfred Winters (Aidan McArdle). He is angry because Henry didn’t show up for their meeting. Alfred says he is in poor health and may not have long left so he wants Eliza to track down his niece Clara Simms.

Then, we see a flashback of Lizzie with her father and their frog. They chat about the drugs a criminal might use to poison their victim. Lizzie does well and impresses her father. Back in the present, Eliza decides to go out so she can try to track down Clara. He orders Kitty (Emma Willis) to fetch her a cab. With help from the youngster, Eliza speaks with a street preacher and finds out where she might be able to find Clara. She is told to trust in Moses. So, she goes to the brothel where Moses (Ansu Kabia) is working and runs into the woman with the missing eye. The woman believes she remembers Eliza from somewhere. Eliza shows her a picture of Clara and she is told to asks Moses. She visits Moses in his private office and he says it is his job to protect the girls.

Eliza tricks him and chains him to a nearby object before threatening to burn his brothel down with turpentine. Moses eventually agrees to cooperate and returns Eliza’s purse. He also tells her where to find Clara Simms (Ellise Chappell). Eliza tracks her down immediately and tells her about her uncle being ill. Clara doesn’t understand why Eliza would want to be a detective but she agrees to reunite with her uncle. Before that can happen, both women are arrested for being prostitutes. Eliza pretends that she is Duke’s favorite woman so they’ll let her go and it works. William laughs about Eliza potentially being his woman and he realizes he can’t convince her to give up her hobby. As they leave, they chat about the time William took advantage of Eliza when her Jack Russell named Skip passed away.

Eliza is locked away for the night after William says he is doing this for Henry. In the morning, she is released. Later, she goes to the Cavendish Hotel and meets with Alfred Winters who knows Henry has passed away. She learns that Alfred has decided to give the case to Gill and Son. She tries to warn him against that because they’ll take his case on a daily rate and not bother looking into it until at least a week. She tells Alfred that Clara has different colored eyes and explains he omitted that detail. She wants 50% of the fee now and the remaining 50% when Alfred is reunited with his niece. She also lets him know that her fee has increased. Eliza tracks down Clara once again and learns that she wants to see her uncle.

As they get Clara dressed, she says Alfred was right and that her husband Joseph was only looking for a woman with a fat dowry. She also reveals Joseph’s life had been colored by tragedy since he was on the Princess Alice when it crashed and his wife died. They meet moments later and Clara says Alfred isn’t her uncle. He removes his beard and we see that it is Joseph Simms. Alfred has died and Joseph wants to take the inheritance. To do that, he is going to have Clara locked away in an asylum. Joseph thanks Eliza for her work and gives her money before leaving. Eliza returns home and thinks about the case and her father. Then, she gets Kitty to fetch her a cab.

She goes to William and pleads with him to help her get Clara out of the asylum. She doesn’t understand why Joseph can’t be arrested since he had a length record but William is afraid that no court will touch him. She wants to look through his file. William won’t let her though. She says she is faint and asks for salts. When William leaves the room, she grabs the file and makes a run for it. She looks through the paperwork in her dad’s office while William pleads with her to come outside. She finds something interesting and returns to Joseph at the motel. She reminds Joseph that he lied to Clara about his wife Beatrice drowning on the Princess Alice. Beatrice Simms survived the sinking. Joseph is a bigamist and his marriage to Clara is not legally binding.

He cannot get her inheritance but Joseph doesn’t believe anyone will listen to her. He intends to attack her until she says Scotland Yard is waiting for him outside. She also reveals she poisoned him with Laudanum and he drops to the ground seconds later. He is led away by police a short time later. William tells Eliza he’ll have to arrest her the next time she steals or poisons someone. She thanks him before Clara is released from the asylum. After Clara is sent home, Eliza returns home and learns she has a visitor. Mr. Parker is there and Ivy believes he wants to propose to Eliza. She recommends saying yes. Rupert (Andrew Gower) offers to be of service to Eliza before trying to propose. Rupert’s mother was convinced Eliza would say yes due to her financial situation.

Rupert reveals he wants to see the world and isn’t ready to get married yet. Rupert is worried his mother will be angry so Eliza says he can tell her she turned him down. After that, William learns that Eliza is going to continue working her father’s private detective business. They go inside and William says he hopes Eliza isn’t overstretching. She reveals the fee he earned from Joseph allows her to pay off her father’s debts. She got a loan from a keen investor for the drapes and new desk. He tells Eliza that she was right and the man was killed by his wife. When William leaves, Eliza speaks with her imaginary father in his chair.

 

Miss Scarlet And The Duke Review

I am not sure what to think about this show just yet. I think it has potential to get better as it goes but the first episode had a lot of problems. First and foremost, I had trouble with Kate Phillips and her delivery. At times, it felt like she was speed reading her lines or something. I usually never have problems understanding the British accents but she was speaking a little too fast for me. The rest of the show was just okay and nothing out of the ordinary.

I normally like Stuart Martin but he felt stiff here. I guess I’ll wait and hope things get better as they go. For now, the opening episode scores a 6.5 out of 10.