'Miss Scarlet' Season 6 Puts Detective Blake on "The Night Shift"

If it was a surprise that Miss Scarlet’s sixth season decided to include an episode in which its titular heroine scarcely appears, the fact that the show decides to do it twice — and within the space of just three installments! – feels downright shocking. Like “The Delivery” before it, “The Night Shift” is a decent enough hour of television, but as an episode of Miss Scarlet, it’s something of an odd fit. 

To be fair, this episode isn’t a terrible idea on paper. There’s a real argument that a Blake-focused episode has been long overdue, if you ignore the fact that Eliza’s absence from this hour means she’s missing from a full third of the season. Unfortunately, despite carrying the episode, “Night Shift” isn’t all that deft or introspective in terms of its character work, and we don’t learn much about Blake that we didn’t already know.

It would have been enough had the episode focused on Blake’s perspective on his relationship with Eliza. The episode makes a valiant attempt, with him mooning over a glove she left in his office and reminiscing about their first meeting. But isn’t the same as actually dealing with the issues that made them take a break. Besides, using the threat of a potentially life-or-death experience to somehow handwave away his very real concerns as a parent and partner is pretty lazy storytelling.

Essentially a “base under siege”-style installment that revolves around crime boss Dylan Cooper’s (Steven Hartley) elaborate plot to break out of Scotland Yard, “The Night Shift” is, to its credit, an hour that's at least trying to do something different. It’s tonally and narratively unlike almost anything that's come before. Darker, more suspenseful, and genuinely tense in a way this show doesn’t often manage, the revelation of the extent of Cooper’s scheming — as well as the identity of his “man on the inside” — is genuinely shocking. (Even if some of us — read: me — likely hate that this twist has ruined the other romance the show was building. Sigh.) 

Things start innocuously enough: The newly arrested Cooper’s being held at the Yard, awaiting transfer to Newgate Prison. But Blake’s incredibly short-staffed, thanks to the combination of a rampant stomach bug and riots elsewhere in the city that mean he can’t simply borrow men from other precincts to pick up the slack.

As the unrest spreads and the Yard goes into lockdown, the situation escalates when Cooper, supervillain-style, hints that a larger game is afoot to set him free. (Bad guys just love to monologue about their evil plans, no matter the genre, I guess.) Sure, it’s not super clear exactly how Cooper is planning to survive as a wanted man on the run while broke, but follow-through has never really been this show’s strong point, so let’s just go with it. 

Suddenly, it’s too dangerous on the streets for Cooper to be transferred. The other prisoners become increasingly restless and violent. Staff members, whether officers or administrative types, are dropping like flies from illness. Blake pretty much has only himself, Willows,  a couple of random cops, and George’s girlfriend, Isobel Summers, to hold things together. That it does not go well should not be a surprise to anyone.

To his credit, Cooper’s plan does turn out to be a fairly good one. The threat of everything from an inmate uprising to a carriage filled with explosives keeps Blake and Willows on edge and distracted. He’s managed to food-poison half the staff with rancid meat, and he has the perfect accomplice no one expects.

As much as this revelation spells the death knell for her sweet romance with Willows, Isobel Summers is really a perfect mole. She’s sweet, friendly, and dating a Yard detective. She’s a hard worker, everyone trusts her, and she has the sort of access that’s only ever granted to the unseen and underappreciated support staff that make an institution like Scotland Yard run. That she has the chance to (easily!) cut off the phone lines, drug officers, and swipe keys is both a testament to her own chutzpah and an indictment of the misogyny of the time period that would have never seen her as any kind of potential threat. 

But for all that this is seemingly meant to be a Blake episode, it’s Willows who really seizes his moment to shine. He’s the one who leads the interrogation of the various cops they suspect of being on Cooper’s payroll and ultimately figures out Isobel’s betrayal, even though it clearly breaks his heart to realize the truth. Even though I personally have to disagree with the way he takes his tea, it’s also the only thing that keeps him from being knocked out, along with most of the other men, so good on him. His genuine hurt over his girlfriend’s ruse is palpable, and while Miss Scarlet never really gave their romance much screentime after their initial meet-cute, it’s a shame to lose a pairing with such potential, particularly since the early days of love are precisely the bit we skipped over with Eliza and Blake.

The episode ends with Blake reaffirming his commitment to Eliza and finally dropping the L-word, ostensibly because he had a harrowing evening that made him reevaluate his personal priorities. Your mileage may vary on whether or not you felt this particular incident would have likely sparked such deep introspection, but maybe watching your right-hand man get dramatically duped by the girl he was super into is more motivating than we realize.

At any rate, things are back on track between the two, and in such a way that Eliza is never actually required to display anything resembling introspection or growth, so status quo ante is maintained within the larger world of the series. Surprise, surprise.

Miss Scarlet Season 6 continues with new episodes airing and streaming on local PBS stations and the PBS app on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET through mid-February 2026. All episodes are available to stream on PBS Passport for members and on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.