Year Released: 2020, 2021 USA
Directed by: Steve Hughes
Starring: Kate Phillips, Stuart Martin, Ansu Kabia, Cathy Belton
(Not Rated but probably PG-13, 60 minutes per episode)
Genre: Mystery and Suspense

“No one worth possessing can be quite possessed.” – Sara Teasdale

Venture into Victorian London’s foggy night air for a waiting carriage as the snap of the whip and echoing hoof beats pierce the darkness. No, you are not on an adventure with Sherlock Holmes, or even his newly invented younger sister Enola. You are going with Miss Scarlet, another private detective set to prove herself in a man’s world.

She doesn’t play the violin, box, fence, or have penchant for disguises, but the plucky Miss Scarlet (Kate Phillips) does venture into the same dangerous haunts that also drew Holmes. Taverns and dance halls, brothels, opium dens, and an empty prison on London’s outskirts, to name a few.

However, she is more ambitious and much more desperate than Holmes ever was. Desperate enough to be looking for dead bodies in the first episode, hoping to find a mystery to solve, although the “dead body” with the glass eyeball lying beside her is not really dead, and she puts up a pretty good fight. Miss Scarlet does her best with the drunken layabout, and even keeps the eyeball, which she had already conveniently slipped into the sleeve of her very refined and corseted gown. (Unlike Holmes, she is not a master of disguise. No hoary sailors, hunchbacked book sellers, venerable Italian priests or opium addicts for her.)

Yes, it is on one of her dangerous ventures – alone, at night, which was unheard of in Miss Scarlet’s day – in Soho where she meets perhaps the most interesting character of the series, at least in Different Drummer’s mind. He is Moses (Ansu Kabia), who runs a bawdy dance hall overflowing with beer and ruffians, and even the “dead” drunken girl, who now wears a patch over the eye that Miss Scarlet had ferreted away in her sleeve.

Her confrontation with Moses establishes Miss Scarlet as street smart, savvy, and fast on her feet. Moses asks for money before giving her any information on the potential client she seeks and then steals it and her purse as well without yielding any of the promised leads. She pretends to seduce him, even though he says she is not his type – “much too skinny.”

“Let me show what a skinny girl can do,” Miss Scarlet says as she sidles up, only as a ruse to flip her hidden handcuffs on him. A few more very real threats follow, Miss Scarlet grabbing a handy bottle of turpentine and proposing to set the room on fire, while promising a very slow and painful death for Moses until he finally yields up her purse, and very reluctantly, the information she has requested.

His threats to hunt her down and kill her are met with scorn; he is “too drunk and lazy” to do it, she tosses back.

At which time Moses, whose presence and unexpected wit makes him a natural scene stealer, tells her.

“I think I like you.”

***

But the crux of the series is the interplay between the leads, Miss Scarlet and the Duke, which writer and creator Rachael New modeled from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

And of course, this dueling interplay where the intensity of the barbs reflects the passion denied, also taunts us in such old and new classics as John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in The Quiet Man, Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker in The Naked Jungle, Murdoch and Julia in Murdoch Mysteries, Elizabeth Taylor and Peter Finch in Elephant Walk, Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redding in The lady Vanishes, Lady Mary and Robert Crawley in Downton Abbey, Miss Phryne Fisher and Inspector Jack Robinson in Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, or Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in Notting Hill.

In this case Miss Scarlet’s adversary/love interest is Scotland Yard detective William Wellington (Stuart Martin) aka the Duke because his last name corresponds to the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. (Different Drummer confesses that she thought he really was a duke for at least a few episodes, his Scott dialect notwithstanding, and her ready knowledge of English history not up there with regular British viewers.)

We see the potential for a marriage of true minds in their first on screen encounter, where William tries to put her off, sending a message that he is at a meeting. However, Miss Scarlet will not be deterred, as she has posted herself at his door, overhearing all this.

His protests of being too busy and are met with her observation of the soap on his collar, shaving mid morning in his office countering that dubious claim. Then in true Sherlock Holmes fashion she deduces the nature of one of his cases, a dead body with his throat split.

I’ve seen neater cuts from a one-armed butcher. And with his pocket watch still on his person, it’s clearly not the work of a common thief. I would say it’s a crime of passion from a scorned woman, since the rash on the soles of his feet suggest the late stages of syphilis,

His mistress, perhaps, or more likely his wife. Of course, I’m sure you’ve already considered this.

The Duke nods, but after she leaves, he asks his assistant to call in the dead man’s wife for questioning.

***

Enjoy all 3 seasons on PBS Passport available for a somewhere around 5 bucks as an add on from Amazon. The plots are twisted, but not like a pretzel; they are grounded and (mostly) believable. The setting frees us from most of the politically WOKE current balderdash defiling filmdom like Conan the Barbarian in his heyday. Finally, the characters have hidden depths; they reflect, grow and change, surprising us when we least expect it.

Not to miss – a delight overflowing with sparkling wit and just the right hint of romance. Reserve this must see for Valentine’s Day.

–Kathy Borich
🥁 🥁 🥁 🥁 🥁

Trailers

Film-Loving Foodie

Each day the Duke grabs a street pie, takes one bite, and then gives the crusty remains to the local street beggar. Probably not out of the goodness of his heart – he works very hard to harden his, especially in regards to Miss Scarlet – but as way of keeping up his street contacts, who are key to his success as a London detective.

These meat pies are quite delicious, and I am surprised they are not staples in America. But you can fix that, at least in your own home, perhaps making one for today’s Super Bowl, just to be apart from the chicken wing, loaded nachos, cheesy dip, jalapeño popper crowd.

And as for making the crust from scratch. Fuhgeddaboudit! Use the ready rolled puff pastry suggested in the recipe.

Victorian Steak and Mushroom Ale Pie

Ingredients

1 tbsp Olive Oil
3 Large Shallots finely chopped (can use onions)
3 cups Mushrooms A mix is best we used 250g chopped Chestnut and 100g Oyster
2 Carrots finely chopped
1.1lb Diced Beef / Stewing/Braising Steak Cubed
6 cloves of crushed garlic
2 tablespoon regular Tomato Puree
1 tbsp Sherry or Balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Plain Flour
1¼ cups Beef Stock made from 2 stock cubes
1 ½ cups Doom Bar Ale Or your chosen brand of Ale
2 Sprig of Rosemary
2 Sprig of Thyme
2 Bay leaves
1/2 tbsp Butter for greasing the pie dish
2 packets Ready Rolled Puff pastry (can use shortcrust pastry if preferred)
1 Egg beaten for egg wash

Instructions

Pre heat the oven at 180°C Fan /200°C/ 400° F Gas mark 6

Place the chopped shallots into a frying pan with some olive oil and cook until softened and golden

Large Shallots, 1 tbsp Olive Oil

Add the garlic, tomato puree, mushrooms, carrots and diced beef. Stir to mix.

The beef does not need to be cooked through at this point ( it will finish cooking in the oven)

Add sherry/balsamic vinegar followed by stock.

Add doom bar or your chosen ale.

Mix 1 tablespoon of flour into a paste with 1 tablespoon of cold water. Add the flour slurry to the pie mixture.

Finally add herbs and bay leaves. Put lid on casserole dish, (or tightly cover with foil) place in the oven at 190°C/375°F and cook for 2 hrs.

Roll out one of the puff pastry ready rolled sheets and use the pie dish (ours has a 25cm/10inch circumference) to cut around. This will be the lid of the pie.

Use the left over pastry from the first sheet to add to the second sheet for the pie base.Roll out until big enough to line your pie dish with an overhang.

Grease the pie dish with butter.

Gently push the pastry into the pie dish.

Lightly score a diamond pattern on the lid and store the lid and base separately in the fridge until the pie filling is ready.

Once finished cooking, allow the pie filling to cool a little. Allowing any liquid that may be left to soak into the steak and mushrooms.

Spoon the filling mixture into the pie dish.

Beat the egg together and use around the pastry hanging on the rim of the pie dish

Add the pie lid and gently egg wash over the top.

Trim away any excess pastry and lift and fold the overhanging pastry a couple of fingers at a time, folding as you go. All the way around.

Brush the folds with more egg and then place in the oven at 180°C Fan /200°C/ 400° F Gas mark 6 for 40 mins.

Enjoy!

Flawless Food.co.uk

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