The Evolution of Eliza: An Interview with Miss Scarlet's Kate Phillips
In Miss Scarlet Season 6, Eliza is back and facing what may be her biggest mystery: how to have a balanced life.
In a candid interview with MASTERPIECE on PBS conducted before the premiere of Season 6, Miss Scarlet star Kate Phillips reflected on a new phase in Eliza’s relationship with Blake, the importance of William and Blake in Eliza’s journey, and why being a role model means making mistakes. Plus, Phillips revealed some advice for her co-star Tom Durant Pritchard, as he joins the ranks of actors pulling double-duty across the MASTERPIECE universe.
A New Dynamic for Eliza and Blake in Season 6
“Eliza has stepped into a place of real growth to be in a committed relationship. While they are very much at the beginning of this relationship, it's still those early few months where you're quite giddy and you're in the process of falling in love and you can perhaps see things through slightly tinted lenses. However, to have reached a place in her life where she has a better work-life balance, I think, is a real reflection of her mental and emotional development. She's prepared to carve out and prioritize time in her life for people that she loves. So well done, Eliza.”
The Evolution of Eliza and Blake
“We started off with a very mistrustful [dynamic], and there was real friction there at times. And now, what's so great about their relationship is that I think they really want good things for one another. Of course, like in any relationship, sometimes you have to get past a few bumps on the road, but ultimately, they know each other now and they know that there's a mutual affection there, and I think they're just really cute together.
What's fun is they still maintain that playful bicker, which I think has always been at the heart of Miss Scarlet. She’s quite quick-witted and she likes that verbal banter, that verbal sparring, with any of her partners, be it Potts or Moses or Nash. With all of those and Ivy, that's her way of expressing love.”
Matchmaking for Miss Scarlet: Who is better for Eliza, William or Blake?
“Maybe it's not my place to say who is right, and obviously, I wouldn't want to. My time with Stuart as the Duke...we started that show together and it was a really, really precious time for me. Perhaps like with any ex-lover, you don't want to throw any shade on [the character], because they were part of that person, they were part of your life, and you wouldn't want to wish it away. It was a really important part of her life, and I think she loved him, and then you move on to maybe better things.”
The Return of Moses (Ansu Kabia) in Season 6
“It just kind of felt like coming home. My experience on-set is you come out of your dressing room and find yourself in the corridor with the actor that you are going to do the scene with, and more often than not, they're this fantastically dressed actor in all of their Victorian get-up. Then you trot down the stairs towards the studio, nattering, catching up or whatever. But when the person who is in front of you is Ansu, and you haven't seen him in forever, it's all so familiar and also lovely.
Ansu and I started this show together in Ireland, so to be able to share the space with him again is just so nice. And for Eliza as well, it feels like she's with an old friend, and that's exactly how it plays out in the story as well.”
Eliza’s Journey and Where She is Now
“It feels like she's at a crossroads. She's come really far, she's grown emotionally, and she's got this great man in her life. She has opened up, and she's started to articulate some painful memories through Ivy. She has made space for Potts, and she's making space for Potts in her life, in her actual home. She's given so much to the women around her, including Ivy, and of course, Blake's daughter Sophia.
She's been a real role model. But I'm sure the audiences feel too like she's got a few more mountains to climb, but that's true of life, isn't it? I think it would be crazy to assume that, at some point, we arrive, and then we stop moving. I think there's continual evolution of one's self and soul, and I think that's going to be true of Eliza.
I think Eliza is a great role model for young women in that she's constantly making mistakes, and how do we learn? By making mistakes. I have a five-year-old daughter, and she gets very upset when she makes mistakes. I say, I'm like, "You're never going to learn unless you make mistakes." So that's why she's a good role model.”
Advice for Tom Durant-Pritchard on Acting in Two Shows
[Editor’s Note: In 2025, Kate Phillips appeared in two very different MASTERPIECE shows – Miss Scarlet and Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Given her experience, we wondered what advice she would give to her co-star Durant-Pritchard who appears in Miss Scarlet and The Forsytes on MASTERPIECE on PBS in 2026.]
“I've got no advice to give him because he's already aced it! We were filming Miss Scarlet and when we wrapped, he went straight to start shooting The Forsyte Saga, so he knows all about it.
That’s kind of the crazy challenge and weird reality of an actor's job, that you go from one world to the next. In some ways, that diverse environment, those new, fresh environments, can be really invigorating. But they do make your head spin, for sure. From what I've heard, he had the best time on The Forsyte Saga.”
