London, 1882. Kate Phillips plays Eliza Scarlet, a penniless daughter who keeps her late father’s detective agency alive by badgering whisky-soaked inspector William ‘Duke’ Wellington, played by Stuart Martin, into a grudging professional alliance. Together they chase kidnappers, poisoners and blackmailers through gas-lit alleys while Eliza dodges debt collectors, disapproving relatives and the Metropolitan Police’s refusal to employ women. The chemistry is pure screwball: she wants his warrant card; he wants her to stop getting shot at.
Rachael New’s six-series caper began in Dublin, then shifted to Belgrade for its backlot recreation of Victorian London. Cathy Belton supplies wry back-up as Eliza’s housekeeper-cum-bookkeeper Ivy, Ansu Kabia adds muscle as reformed criminal Moses, and Tom Durant-Pritchard replaces Martin from series five onward as ambitious Inspector Blake, forcing Eliza to renegotiate every favour. Each 60-minute episode is a self-contained mystery threaded through a longer game of wills: Eliza’s licence versus the Duke’s pride, then Eliza’s independence versus Blake’s bureaucracy.
Alibi premiered the show in March 2020; PBS Masterpiece exported it to the US the following January. A seventh run has already been commissioned, keeping the tally at 36 episodes and counting. The series quietly became Alibi’s highest-rated original drama, proving that corsets, revolvers and a woman who refuses to say ‘sir’ can still draw blood.
Production Details
U&Alibi / 7 Seasons / 36 Episodes / 2020 - Present
Created by: Rachael New
Showrunner(s): Ben Edwards
Writer(s): Rachael New, Ben Edwards
Producer(s): Aaron Farrell (series 1) Patty Ishimoto - Series producer (series 4-)
Cinematography: Russell Gleeson
Main Cast
Kate Phillips as Eliza Scarlet
Cathy Belton as Ivy Woods
Stuart Martin as William Wellington
Ansu Kabia as Moses Valentine
Simon Ludders as Mr. Potts
Tim Chipping as Detective Phelps
Evan McCabe as Detective Fitzroy
Tom Durant-Pritchard as Inspector Alexander Blake
Paul Bazely as Clarence
Felix Scott as Patrick Nash
Ian Pirie as Superintendent Monro
Sam Buchanan as Detective George Willows
