Miss Scarlet and the Duke stars Kate Phillips and Stuart Martin have revealed a few facts about their favourite episodes in season 3.
The actors have returned as fierce female investigator Eliza Scarlet and Scotland Yard’s Inspector William ‘The Duke’ Wellington, childhood pals with an evident chemistry – but a lot of baggage.
Following its US premiere, another six-episode season of the historical crime thriller premiered on Alibi last week, and the show’s lucky viewers have another season after this one to look forward to as well.
The current third season, on the other hand, promises to keep us all engaged with a ‘new dynamic’ to manage between the couple, in addition to the typical murder, theft, and blackmail that keeps them busy on a daily basis.
From a missing magician and the reappearance of a childhood adversary in episode one to a hotel whodunnit and a bomb, there’s enough to keep the show’s viewers entertained this time around.
Now, series actors Phillips and Martin have shared an exclusive look at their favourite moments from the upcoming episodes, hinting what’s to come.
One of Martin’s favourite episodes was actually the opening one.
‘I really loved episode one. I mean they’re all so brilliant because Rachael [New, series creator] and Ben [Edwards, writer] take stuff that was going on at the time, obviously, but, you know, very present… well, I don’t want to spoil it but in past seasons we’ve had the suffragettes in an episode, and these sort of different crimes that are very fitting to the time,’ he explained.
‘This season we’ve got couple of those, of crimes that happened in the year that Miss Scarlet season three takes place. The first episode, for me, was just like a totally different world. We’ve got theatre, we’ve got a magician and the whole sort of show that goes on behind these variety shows of the time, Victorian magicians shows and that whole bustle of backstage.’
Martin, who had previously appeared in Jamestown, was similarly pleased by how this altered their shot setup.
‘The theatre was a brand-new location and set and we got to film it in this amazing theatre, the National Theatre in Belgrade, so it was amazing and a really fun episode to do. It got us out the office and was just a totally different world that we get to see – it’s very cool – so I loved that.’
Phillips, the star of The Crown, admitted that she had “lots of favourites” in the third season, including the “great” opening episode.
She was, nevertheless, taken by impending episodes for fans.
‘Episode three is like a different world, it’s like a bottle episode, I really love that,’ the actress shared.
‘I’ve already said how much I love [season finale] episode six, the stakes are really, really high and a number of characters come together to work together and it’s really fun watching them be in the same room.’
The 33-year-old also expressed her enthusiasm for this week’s episode, the second, which is likely to be a fan favourite as Eliza and William go undercover together, acting as a couple, following their sort-of-revelations of their emotions for one other at the close of last season.
It’s also the episode when Eliza meets an old school friend, Arabella Acaster (Sophie Robertson), who is now a restaurant owner.
‘I’ve just been reminded I really like episode two as well because the scenes that we have at the beginning of that episode are some of my favourites, where there’s a confidence between the two of them.
‘You talk about where their relationship is, where they’ve arrived at. They’re sort of pretending to be lovers but not still, so that was really fun to play!’
Martin, 37, agreed and added: ‘Yes, and again, a really beautiful location, wasn’t it, for that opening? That’s one of my favourite scenes, that whole first five, 10 minutes is really… yeah, I love it!’
In terms of location, Phillips highlighted what transferring production from Dublin, Ireland to Belgrade, Serbia after the first season meant for the programme in terms of location filming.
‘Obviously the architecture in Belgrade isn’t always reminiscent of Victorian London – but certainly the older stuff, there are plenty of buildings and of course then they’ll dress the front of buildings.
‘So there’s this beautiful old school in an old part of Belgrade that they dress the front of to make a theatre and it’s really fun because you walk around the city even like a year later, and you’re like, “Oh, that was our theatre!” Which is fun.
‘But a lot of stuff is done in the studio which I find still really magic because every stroke of the paintbrush has been considered.’
Miss Scarlet and the Duke continues on Tuesday April 18 on Alibi , with all six episodes available on Sky, Virgin and NOW.
Source My Celebrity Life.