Courtesy of MASTERPIECE / PBS
Sundays, Jan. 17–Feb. 14 & Feb. 28, at 8 p.m. on WKAR-HD 23.1 & STREAMING | Before Marple and Tennison, there was Scarlet: Miss Eliza Scarlet, private detective.
Miss Scarlet and the Duke is set in London at the start of the
Sherlock Holmes era, circa 1880. Eliza’s father, Henry, is a widowed retired police officer, currently a private detective running up bills and drinking through his occasional earnings. Nonetheless, he is a talented investigator, and he has taught his only child, Eliza, the trade since she was a girl. She is now determined to break into this male-only profession.
Fortunately, Eliza’s childhood friend happens to be a detective inspector at Scotland Yard: William, “The Duke,” Wellington. He gets his nickname from the most famous Englishman of the 19th century: the Duke of Wellington, victor over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Like that other Wellington, the Duke is cool and decisive in a scrape. He is also a