Tom Durant Pritchard as Alexander Blake and Kate Phillips as Eliza Scarlet in ‘Miss Scarlet.’ Sever Zolak; Miss Scarlet Limited and MASTERPIECE
Season 5 of Miss Scarlet is all about change, but newbie Tom Durant-Pritchard is just like Us rooting for Eliza Scarlet to find her happily ever after.
“We all need love, do you know what I mean?” Durant-Pritchard, 37, exclusively told Us Weekly while playing coy as to whether his character, the new Scotland Yard Inspector Alexander Blake, will be a new love interest for private investigator Eliza (Kate Phillips).
The actor is replacing Stuart Martin’s Inspector William Wellington a.k.a. The Duke in the upcoming season of the PBS Masterpiece Mystery show, which premieres on Sunday, January 12. (The early streaming release began on December 8, 2024, on the PBS App and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.)
Unlike William, who was in love with Eliza for years before taking a job in New York City at the end of season 4, Blake doesn’t like private investigators. That aversion to Eliza’s profession, however, might be short-lived, according to Durant-Pritchard.
Courtesy of Miss Scarlet Limited and MASTERPIECE The Duke is no longer part of the Miss Scarlet cast, but newcomer Tom Durant-Pritchard is hopeful his character, Inspector Alexander Blake, can fill the void. “Why should fans give him a chance? I think for a number of reasons,” Durant-Pritchard, 37, exclusively told Us Weekly about his […]
“Blake doesn’t want any PIs working with Scotland Yard, but there’s that classic thing with Miss Scarlet is you can’t deny that she’s very good at her job,” he told Us. “And Blake is a sensible man and comes to appreciate the fact that as much as he doesn’t want Ms. Scarlet to get involved in any of the cases, she’s kind of too good to ignore.”
He teased, “So begrudgingly he has to allow her to take part.”
While the two butt heads right out the gate — during the premiere they cross paths on a tricky case involving stolen goods — Durant-Pritchard explained they have a few things in common that could bond them.
“He’s gone through his own heartbreak that is different to Miss Scarlet,” the season 5 star shared. “But they find each other at a time when they’re in their company. They need each other in a way.”
Durant-Pritchard noted that there’s a “reluctance” to Blake and Eliza “getting on” when he first comes to town but that changes as the seasons progresses.
“You see a sort of friendship building. There is something between them as much as they both don’t want it to happen,” he teased. “There’s a relationship building.”
Durant-Pritchard explained that even though Eliza wants to have a clean break from William — fans will see how the two formally part ways during the season 5 premiere — healing from heartbreak “is never that simple.”
The English actor revealed that Eliza’s feelings from season 4 will “feed into what happens in season 5.” When it comes to how she will connect with Blake and weasel her way into more cases, Durant-Pritchard said it will come down to proving herself at work.
Kate Phillips as Eliza Scarlet in ‘Miss Scarlet.’ Sever Zolak; Miss Scarlet Limited and MASTERPIECE
“There are some great cases that are quite big that require quite a lot of mental strength,” he shared. “And the bond that Blake and Ms. Scarlet have to form to solve those cases, kind of allow the past to stay in the past and they have to start building their own relationship and future between them.”
Durant-Pritchard remained somewhat coy about whether Blake and Eliza’s dynamic will become romantic — but he didn’t rule it out completely.
“You can expect two, single people in a state of heartbreak, going about their business to the best of their ability,” he told Us. “And as much as they don’t want to spend time with one another as the season progresses, they end up having to spend more and more time together and get to know each other better and better as time goes on.”
While Blake and Eliza start off on a rocky foot, Durant-Pritchard had an easy time getting along with the show’s leading lady.
“Kate is a fantastic actor, and she’s a great person. It’s very easy to just hang out and have that,” he gushed about Phillips, 35. “I’ve come from a background of doing my fair share of comedies, and we share a love of comedy [and] rom-coms, all the work of Hugh Grant over the years.”
Courtesy of MASTERPIECE The season 5 premiere of Miss Scarlet kicked off a new era for the show — and while The Duke didn’t return, fans did get answers about his whereabouts. During season 4 of Miss Scarlet and the Duke (which is now Miss Scarlet), Inspector William Wellington a.k.a. The Duke (Stuart Martin) professed […]
Durant-Pritchard revealed that he and Phillips connected over their love of movies and spent a lot of time getting to know each other’s ticks. (Durant-Pritchard picked Four Weddings and a Funeral and “all the Bridget Jones’s” as his favorite rom-coms.)
“We spoke, I think, every day from about 8 in the morning til 7 at night, and we spent every second together,” he recalled. “We just got on so well that it was just very easy on set.”
As fans gear up for new dynamics in season 5 of Miss Scarlet, Durant-Pritchard gave Us his vision for season 6 — assuming Blake sticks around.
“I would like to see how his relationship with Ms. Scarlet progresses through time,” he said, hinting that he too is team Eliza finding love. “To see if they can maintain a kind of working relationship and then anything else that happens is a boon, I guess.”
Season 5 of Miss Scarlet premieres on Masterpiece Mystery on PBS Sunday, January 12, at 8 p.m. ET.
