Major casting news for Season 5 of Miss Scarlet and the Duke!

MASTERPIECE has announced a major addition to the cast of Miss Scarlet and the Duke. As previously announced, Stuart Martin has decided to step back from the show.  Stuart played the role of William ‘The Duke’ Wellington opposite Kate Phillip’s Miss Eliza Scarlet. The news has been met with sadness and has left many fans disappointed and worried about the future of the series. 

Who is it going to be?

Tom Durant Pritchard (This Is Going to Hurt, The Crown) will join the cast of Miss Scarlet for Season 5. Filming of Season 5 is already underway in Belgrade, Serbia.  Tom may already be familiar to viewers of The Crown, in which he played socialite Billy Wallace in Season 2. He also appeared as Greg, the groom to be in BBC’s This is Going to Hurt opposite Ben Whishaw. 

He will play Alexander Blake, a dashing detective, hired by Scotland Yard to replace William “The Duke” Wellington who has gone to America. Blake is well respected in the force and, in his former life, was a soldier in the British army. 

How will Eliza handle the change?

Detective Blake is not as old-fashioned as some of his peers and does not have any criticisms of female private detectives. However, Eliza (Kate Phillips)  expects this to mean that she should be able to collaborate well with him and possibly get more cases to work on. It turns out that she is wrong in this assumption, as Alexander Blake does not intend to work with any private detectives at all! 

This season will see a different kind of relationship develop as Blake and Miss Scarlet cross paths at various stages as they both work to solve crimes across London.  The question will be, as they find a way to cooperate and get along professionally, could it evolve into something else?

What are people saying?

Durant Pritchard told Masterpiece, “I am thrilled to be joining the team and to become part of the Scarlet family. Working with Kate has been a dream and she’s been so welcoming.”

Susanne Simpson, Executive Producer of MASTERPIECE shared, “I can’t wait for the Miss Scarlet fans to meet Alexander Blake and see how he and Eliza will get along. We’re so fortunate to have found Tom Durant Pritchard – he’s the perfect Inspector Blake.” MASTERPIECE is presented on PBS by GBH Boston.

Fans of the show will be relieved to hear that the series regulars are set to return for Season 5. Evan McCabe as Detective Fitzroy, Cathy Belton as Ivy, Felix Scott as Patrick Nash, Paul Bazely as Clarence, Simon Ludders as Mr. Potts, and Tim Chipping as Detective Phelps have all returned for Season 5.

Miss Scarlet and The Duke is available on DVD on Amazon.