This script has been lightly edited for clarity.

Jace Lacob: I’m Jace Lacob and you’re listening to MASTERPIECE Studio.

When it comes to detectives, Inspector Alexander Blake is what you’d expect. He’s hard-working, honest, well-respected, not to mention a cultured and well-traveled former army officer who is fluent in Mandarin. However, his authoritative and self-contained work style does not leave much room for collaboration, or indeed, the services of Eliza Scarlet, or any private detective for that matter.

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Scarlet: I hope this might be a good opportunity to outline the history of my work in relation to your predecessors. And here are numerous case reports, letters of reference, and as you see, newspaper clippings showing the investigations that I’ve helped to solve.

Blake: I’m afraid you’re wasting your time. I do not engage the services of private detectives.

Scarlet: Well, may I at least present the progress I’ve made on the Bowden case?

Blake: There is no need. My office will deal with it. However, if you have a contract, you will be paid for your work so far. But that is all. Good day.

However, in time, we come to see a more vulnerable side of Inspector Blake, as does Eliza, who pays him a visit at his home and is greeted by his young daughter, Sophia.   

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Scarlet: Good morning, is… is Inspector Blake in?

Blake: Miss Scarlet. What an unexpected pleasure.

Scarlet: Good morning Inspector Blake.

Blake: Would you like to come in?

Scarlet: Oh, um, yes. Thank you.

Blake: How many times have I told you young lady, you are not allowed to answer the door?

Sophia: One hundred and twenty, papa.

Despite a rocky start, Eliza Scarlet and Inspector Blake break through some of their self-imposed barriers to become, if not exactly friends, then colleagues who are able to solve crime shoulder to shoulder. One afternoon while pursuing leads, a man they’re questioning offers a perspective that makes things a little more interesting.

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Maximillian Cinelli: Are the two of you courting? Because I think he likes you.

Today, we talk with actor Tom Durant-Pritchard about the complexity of his character, Inspector Alexander Blake, and what might be behind his chilly exterior.

Jace Lacob: This week we are joined by Miss Scarlet star Tom Durant-Pritchard. Welcome.

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Thanks for having me.

Jace Lacob: You joined the cast of Miss Scarlet in Series 5 replacing a beloved character who also happened to be the romantic lead, and a title character to boot. You’re away from home. You’re filming in Serbia for three months. Did it feel easy in a way to draw on that tension to play Alexander Blake, who is himself newly arrived with big expectations?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Yeah, it was one of those things where I was aware when I got the job that I was taking over from somebody who was very well loved. And obviously there’s a strong fan base who follow Miss Scarlet and The Duke. So it was quite a daunting prospect having to take over from the handsome Stuart Martin. But yeah, it kind of fed into what I was doing with the character. So, all the nerves I felt as an actor were kind of married with what I imagine the character Blake was feeling, because we were both starting our first days at a new job.

So that bit was half daunting, but it was also the thing that was actually quite exciting, because I felt like I could come into the show and do what I wanted with it without the pressure of trying to stick to the rules that have been in place for years. So yeah, equally daunting and exciting.

Jace Lacob: What was the audition process like for Alexander Blake? What sort of scenes did the producers have you read?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: So, I got the scripts through from my agent, and they were just two scenes. One from early on, and it was Blake’s first meeting with Miss Scarlet. And I remember doing a tape for it. It was a really good audition and the script was so fantastic and it just lifted off the page so easily and it was very easy to get into it. And the second scene was another one with Miss Scarlet in Blake’s office where they’re sort of finding out a little bit more about each other’s past and starting to try and figure each other out.

And I did the tapes, and in standard fashion, sort of thought nothing of it. And then, a few weeks later, I got an email from my agent saying that I was to go in and have a chemistry read with Kate, who plays Miss Scarlet. Yeah, I went and did about a half an hour audition. We went through a couple of scenes together, and then I found out within 24 hours after that, that I’d got it. Which was great, great news.

Jace Lacob: Chemistry read obviously went well. You’re coming into an established cast, but your character is an outsider. What sort of conversations did you have with Kate then, ahead of time? Was it difficult to achieve that balance of camaraderie with your co-star, while also being aware that these two characters are very much strangers?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: The first thing you’re very aware of is the fact that Kate is a brilliant actor and she’s also a really lovely person. So on a personal level, it was very easy to come into such an easy going cast where your leading actor is just so welcoming and easy to be around.

And then, to be honest with you, because we had so many scenes together, we spent so much time hanging out on set that all of those kind of things that happen in the show of us trying to get to know each other better were being mirrored in real life because we didn’t know one another we were finding out stuff about one another as the shoot went on. And by the end of it, I felt like I’d known her for years. And I think you can sort of see that coming across in the show as well. As we kind of warm to one another, the characters warm to one another, and then it all sort of goes from there.

Jace Lacob: Blake isn’t a stand in for Wellington. He is his own character. He brings a very different energy to the dynamic with Eliza Scarlet. Nash describes him jokingly as, “Hardworking, honest, all the worst things a man can be.” What was your take on Alexander Blake when you first read the scripts for Series Five?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Well, to be honest with you, when I first read it, there are some things that you read that just don’t really work, and you can try as hard as you can to try and make the character come to life, but it just doesn’t happen. And there was something that happened when I read the role of Blake, it just fit really nicely and I felt like I’d known this person.

And there’s something so wonderful about that kind of Victorian man who doesn’t reveal a huge amount about themselves, holds themselves to a high moral standard and just goes about their business without showing too much. And they’ve always been characters that I’ve enjoyed watching. And to play, it’s a real treat because there’s so much happening underneath the surface and you just get to reveal bits slowly as the series goes on without throwing it all out in one big thing right at the beginning.

And I think it was quite nice for the show because Stuart had done such a great job for four seasons. But I think it was important to bring a slightly different dynamic to things. And I think the way Rachael and Ben have written the character of Blake, it couldn’t be further from what the Duke was. So, I think they’ve done a really great job in still creating a character that’s interesting to watch without staying too close to what the Duke was doing for the first four seasons.

Jace Lacob: No, if anything, I agree. I think they go out of their way not to replicate that with Blake. Blake and Eliza do not hit it off in their first encounter. He’s dismissive of her offers of help. He doesn’t like private detectives.

CLIP

Blake: Miss Scarlet, I have found through bitter experience that private investigators do not compare to professional police officers. I do not trust them, I do not use them, I do not need them. It’s not my intention to be rude.

Eliza: You’re doing a wonderful job of it.

Blake: Please shut the door on your way out.

Jace Lacob: What did you make of their first meeting? How does it set the stage for their working dynamic?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: I loved their first meeting because I just thought it was really fun. I liked the idea that here’s a man who’s coming in, used to just doing his job, telling people what to do. And then this incredible woman arrives who has her own agenda, her own ideas, and he’s just not going to stand for it.

And, I think under normal circumstances, he’d be able to dismiss these people out of hand for just not being very good at their job. But, as we all know, Miss Scarlet’s pretty good at her job, so reluctantly, he has to kind of accept the fact that she’s got a skill set that he doesn’t possess and she could actually be quite useful. But yeah, it takes a lot for him to agree to allow her to do anything and really doesn’t want that to happen in the slightest. It’s a point of great tension between the two of them, and it was great fun to play.

Jace Lacob: While Blake loathes private investigators, he’s not at all bothered by Eliza being a female private investigator. How much of that is down to Blake being a modern man by Victorian standards, and how much to his role as a single father to a young daughter?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: It’s that thing. I’m not sure if Blake would see himself as a modern man by any standards. I think he’s just incredibly practical. So, if somebody is a woman, it’s not going to bother him as long as they’re good at their job. So, it’s not really a question of him being modern, it’s just about him getting the best out of every situation. And he is a single dad, and he’s doing the best he can to raise his daughter. And he’s not going to stick to any one way of doing it, he’s just going to do whatever it takes to make sure that his daughter gets the best upbringing she can possibly have, and sometimes that means not adhering to all the rules.

And I think that’s the way he goes about his life, he’ll always do everything to a strict moral code, but it’s not necessarily the one you’d expect. And I guess in some ways that is kind of what makes him a modern man, but he’s also steeped in tradition. So, you’ve kind of got that combination at play the whole time, which is great.

Jace Lacob: I love the fact that he is so tender with Sophia because it not only helps to soften his character overall, but it also raises the stakes for Blake. He is fulfilling the roles of both parents to a child while protecting both her and himself from further grief or heartbreak. He doesn’t tell Eliza about Sophia’s existence initially, and he bristles when she picks up the copy of Treasure Island in his office. Why doesn’t he come out and tell her about Sophia when she asks about the book?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: The way I saw it when I was reading it is that his wife, who would have been responsible so much for the upbringing of Sophia, is no longer around. So the entire responsibility of her welfare is up to him. And it’s a job that he takes incredibly seriously. And as great as Miss Scarlet is, she does seem to be very close to a lot of dangerous situations a lot of the time. So yeah, I think anybody with half a brain, if you’ve got the sense that Miss Scarlet was too close to your personal life, you’d be very alarmed.

So I think in those early sections when he senses that she’s getting too close to his space where he’s trying to protect his daughter, he is naturally concerned, and those walls go straight back up again, and Miss Scarlet’s going to have to work a lot harder to break them down because he just doesn’t trust people to be able to look after his daughter and she’s always going to be his priority in every situation.

Jace Lacob: Blake supervises both Phelps and Fitzroy. Phelps feels like he was passed over for Blake’s job. Fitzroy is deferent to a fault, if a bit poetic and absent minded. What does he make of the two men in his employ?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Those two characters are so clearly written and I’d seen bits and they’re both performed so well. And I was interested in slightly changing the dynamic, and I’d had some conversations with Rachael. And when it comes to Fitzroy, there was something really lovely about the idea that there’s a kind of paternal relationship that Blake has over him because he sees potential in him and thinks that he can go on to do great things, so really wants him to do well at his job. And it felt really nice for that to be something and someone that Blake cares about.

And then on the other side with Phelps, it was this kind of comical belief that Phelps had that he was the right man for the job, despite clearly having very little qualifications or showing any aptitude for that position. I think Blake sees through it, doesn’t see him as a threat, and it makes it all the more frustrating for Phelps, and all the more amusing for me.

Jace Lacob: He is, as you say, very protective of Fitzroy. He’s quite sweet, in fact, with Ivy, who starts as a clerk at Scotland Yard and eventually becomes his assistant. How does that relationship with Ivy reveal the other facets to Blake’s character?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Well, I think it’s really lovely. Again, like we’ve been speaking about a little bit, Blake sees potential in people and if people are good at something, he’ll reward it and make sure that they live up to their full potential.

There is this part of Blake that when he closes off, the walls go up. There’s this kind of Mr. Darcy rigidness where he’s not going to reveal anything about himself. But underneath that, there’s a huge amount more. And as a character, it’s one of the great things that I think Rachael’s done, is drip feeding bits of personality that come out of Blake when he’s calmer and things are settled, and he’s in a good place. You get to see a bit more of the man that you might see at home.

But when he’s at work, there’s this kind of rigid professionalism. But with Ivy, because her character is such a wondrous, kind person, even that breaks through Blake. There’s no way that he can keep the walls up with somebody as wonderful as Ivy, and he rewards her for her brilliance.

MIDROLL

Jace Lacob: Episode 5 finds Blake dealing with the murder of a legendary composer. He reads Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Sophia, who notices the book’s inscription and asks who Eliza Scarlet is and whether she’s a lady policeman. Sophia hates school, and rather unexpectedly, he asks Eliza, “When you were a child, did you enjoy school?” What prompts him to invite this intimacy with Eliza now?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: I think by the time we get to Episode Five, he’s come to appreciate the fact that Eliza is not only very good at what she does, there is a fundamental decency to her. And despite some of the chaos that follows, he sees her goodness and sees a lot of similarities between Eliza and his daughter. He’s clearly troubled by what’s happening with his daughter and doesn’t quite know how best to solve the situation. And at the same time he’s got this brilliant woman who he’s working with who’s all the things that his daughter is.

So, I think it’s just that thing where they’ve got to know each other better. His walls are dropping and he starts to trust her and dare I say it, like her a little bit, and is willing to take that risk if it’s going to potentially help with his daughter.

Jace Lacob: That narrative thread comes to a head at the prison as Blake finally does let Eliza into his confidence and he tells her about Sophia’s issues at school.

CLIP

Blake: My daughter is struggling with her teachers. Her classmates seem no kinder. She’s never found it easy to make friends. Now, I know she misses her mother and I try my best to fill the void.

Eliza: When I was at school I was continually made to feel unimportant, worthless. But I was lucky, my father made me feel special.

Jace Lacob: Given their patchy dynamic, we’ll say, Eliza didn’t need to tell him that he’s doing a great job as a father. But what do her words mean to Blake? Is he grateful to receive them?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: I think when Blake hears those words, it means a huge amount. And he’s a man who’s been trying his best to raise his daughter by himself. And the burden of doing that by yourself without asking for help, without talking to people about it, I think has been weighing pretty heavy on him. And I think when Eliza says those words, it’s probably the first kind words that he’s heard in relation to him as a single parent. And I think it means the world to him.

And it also is vulnerable of Eliza to say that. So I think there’s that kind of moment when she says it, but not only does it land for him as something that he’s been wanting to hear for a long time, he also recognizes the vulnerability that Eliza’s shown in saying something like that. And it just brings them closer together as people.

Jace Lacob: I think this scene is the crux of the entire series. We learn here it’s been three years since Blake’s wife died, and perhaps he’s thrown himself into his work as a way of avoiding his grief, which is something that Eliza knows all too well. Do you see, then, this moment being a major turning point for their dynamic, this understanding of similarities between them?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: It’s definitely one of those moments that indicates a huge shift in their relationship because I think both of them have struggled to reveal their vulnerable sides to anybody. And both of them have thrown themselves into their jobs. And there’s this sudden moment where they’re both able to be vulnerable with one another. And you see a sort of sinking and shoulders coming down as they have this moment. And it felt incredibly powerful when we were doing it. And also, it’s just really lovely, especially when you’re doing something like a Victorian drama, where so much of it is about hiding feelings.

And when you’re allowed to have those moments where you can breathe and say what you feel, it’s just a hugely cathartic experience. And yeah, it really does bring the two characters much closer together. But also at the same time, you’ve gone past the point of no return, in the sense that you’ve now revealed so much about yourself, it’s very hard to bring back that level of safety that you had before. You’ve now revealed everything about yourself, they know too much, so you’ve now jumped in, and I think that’s what makes the future between the two of them that little bit more exciting because they’re in now, they’re very close, and it’s very difficult to go back from that.

Jace Lacob: While being questioned, Maximillian Cianelli starts waxing poetic about Eliza’s beauty and how he could make her a star, and Blake snaps at him.

CLIP

Maximillian Cinelli: Those cheekbones. Those cheekbones will set fire to the coldest of hearts and those eyes. I could make you a star.

Eliza: That’s very kind of you Mr. Cinelli, but I have no desire, nor indeed talent, for a life in the theatre.

Maximilian Cinelli: When a woman is as beautiful as you are, my dear, there is no need for talent.

Blake: Oh, for God’s sake, man, we’re not here to discuss Miss Scarlet changing professions. She asked you a question.

Jace Lacob: Where does this come from? Why has Cinelli struck such a nerve with his comments?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: I think this is probably one of the first points where you see a potential slip in Blake’s professionalism. And at the end of the day, he’s also got the standard things of actually having feelings for somebody, and somebody else making comments about their appearance just annoys him, and he struggles to hide it.

I remember doing that scene and the actor who was playing that role was hysterical and Kate and I, it was one of the only scenes where we are both biting our cheeks, trying not to laugh. And I think it was part of me being incredibly frustrated as the character in the scene. And it was also me as the actor desperately trying not to giggle. So I was having to shout the line out and it’s probably come out a bit more aggressive than it was meant to.

Jace Lacob: Anti-corpsing strategy then.

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Exactly. It’s an anti-corpse and yeah, just shout it out. That way you’re not going to laugh.

Jace Lacob: There is a lovely awkwardness between Blake and Eliza after Cinelli asks, “Are the two of you courting? Because I think he likes you.” There’s a sweetness to that gawkiness that feels adorably adolescent in a way. Has Blake been aware that he harbored feelings for Eliza or is this the first time that it perhaps becomes clear to him?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: You know what, even you just mentioning it right now, I’ve never felt so English in my entire life because it’s making me hot just thinking about it. It’s that awful thing where you’ve been found out and it’s so excruciating. And I feel incredibly British, where your natural reaction is to just pretend there’s nothing there, stare at the walls, do nothing. It’s just that sudden, that awkwardness of not being able to look at the person because essentially you fancy them, like a teenager. See, even saying it makes me feel uncomfortable now. I’m going to put my walls back up, that’s ridiculous.

Jace Lacob: Blake reveals he’s one of seven siblings. Eliza, he says, must be an only child. Independent, ambitious, determined. He may as well be describing Sophia here. Does he see Eliza as presenting a future for Sophia or a cautionary tale?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Oh, that is a fantastic question. I think by this point he has nothing but admiration for Eliza and I think if his daughter were to turn out like Eliza has, he would be incredibly proud. But it is also a cautionary tale in the sense that it’s a strong independent woman in the Victorian era and obviously, that was a clearly very difficult situation. I think it acts as both cautionary tale and a sign of something exciting and something to aspire towards.

Jace Lacob: Sophia says that the girls at school don’t believe that Eliza Scarlet is real, leading Blake to ask Eliza if she’s free that afternoon, and he brings Sophia to her office to formally introduce the two. What prompts him to take this extraordinary step of bringing the two women in his life together? What does he hope Eliza can ultimately teach Sophia?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: I think it’s that point where he’s been having such a tough time with his daughter because she’s been having such a torrid time at school, and she’s been struck by the nanny and is just generally having a pretty awful time, is dealing with the loss of her mother. And I think he’s at his wits end and then Eliza is a woman who’s gone through her own fair share of heartbreak, but is still this strong, independent woman who he admires hugely.

And I think that he just thinks that Sophia being in her presence might rub off somehow, and give her some of the confidence that she really needs. And I think also just that thing of him hiding so much of his private life, I think he’s got to the stage where he needs to share it with someone. And Eliza’s shown herself to be emotionally capable of holding all of that stuff. So, I think he sees it as a perfect opportunity to merge his two worlds together.

Jace Lacob: Do you see this as perhaps pointing towards a thawing between them, the beginnings of friendship or even something more?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: There’s definitely been a thawing, and as a result, there’s so much potential as to where it could lead. They’re quite a good fit in terms of a pair, and I quite like the dynamic, and I find the idea of the two of them in this kind of complicated space quite an intriguing prospect.

Jace Lacob: So you did attend drama school at Mountview. In leaner times, you said, you performed as a children’s party entertainer, apparently for the same company as Grantchester’s James Norton. What did you learn from this experience and what’s stuck with you?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Oh my God, what did I learn from the experience? I mean, everything. I was a kids entertainer for years, and I was doing it between quite big acting jobs. I would be doing four kids parties over the weekend, and then I’d be acting in shows like The Crown during the week.

And then having mad scenarios where I’d be doing kids parties for the cast of The Crown‘s children, which was a deeply lonely decade for me. But what has it taught me? I don’t know, how to do balloon animals? I’m pretty good with bubbles. I can do a lot of really bad knock knock jokes. And it’s also taught me that resentment and bitterness can fuel you through a two hour kids party. Yeah.

Jace Lacob: Amazing. You’re filming for months at a time in Serbia. I hear you’ve particularly gotten close with Evan McCabe, Tim Chipping and Paul Bazely. What’s a typical night out in Belgrade like when you’re filming Miss Scarlet?

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Typical night out in Belgrade. Well, we have got a cast WhatsApp group, which is the supper club. So most of the cast, we’re sort of mid 30s upwards apart from Evan who was in his 20s. So for all of us in our 30s onwards we’d go out for a bite to eat, maybe a glass of wine and then call it an early night, and then leave the amazing Serbian nightlife to the younger ones. But then occasionally, if we had a few nights off, I might be prone to a later night.

Jace Lacob: Tom Durant Pritchard, thank you so very much.

Tom Durant-Pritchard: Thank you.

Next time, we’re cast back to Eliza Scarlet’s school days to witness an unfortunately formative moment for the budding detective.

CLIP

Mary Agnes: Eliza Scarlet, yet again. Do you think you’re someone special?

Next Sunday, Miss Scarlet writer, creator, and executive producer Rachael New joins us once again to discuss her role this season in front of the camera.