Channel 4’s Bold New Police Procedural: Get Millie Black
Written by the Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James, Channel 4’s latest offering, Get Millie Black, marks a refreshing shift from the clichéd narratives typical of police procedurals and the dreary British weather that often serves as their backdrop. Set against the vibrant and tumultuous backdrop of Kingston, Jamaica, the series follows Detective Millie-Jean Black, portrayed by Tamara Lawrance, as she delves into the complexities of missing person cases alongside her partner, Curtis, played by Gershwyn Eustache Jnr. However, as the inaugural episode unfolds, it becomes clear that Millie has her own labyrinth of personal issues to navigate.
After being sent to London by her abusive mother during her childhood, Millie returns to Jamaica following her mother’s passing, eager to reconnect with her beloved brother, Orville. To her surprise, she discovers that her sibling has transitioned while she was away, now living as Hibiscus, played by Chyna McQueen. Hibiscus exists on the fringes of society, engaging in sex work and sleeping rough in one of Kingston’s open-air gullies. Millie, who frequently bribes guards to liberate Hibiscus from incarceration, dreams of reuniting the sisters in their childhood home. Yet, Hibiscus is resistant to the idea. As Millie reflects in a voiceover, “Mama’s ghost has kept Hibiscus out of here.”
This voiceover serves as a kind of omniscient narration, offering insights with the benefit of hindsight and enriching the narrative’s context. Get Millie Black seamlessly transitions from James’s literary roots to the television landscape. Millie opens the first episode with the poignant observation, “Like every story about this country, this is a ghost story,” positioning the narrative within both a historical and personal framework.
As Millie grapples with her familial dynamics, she is also immersed in the investigation of 15-year-old Janet Fenton, who was last seen entering a flashy vehicle with an older white man. Identifying her companion as local scion Freddy Somerville—a “rich boy who loves fking ghetto girls,” as Curtis puts it—Millie and Curtis venture to the Somerville family estate, where the racial and class disparities in Kingston become starkly evident. Freddy’s father coldly admonishes them, stating, “You trespassin’,” making it abundantly clear that he could jeopardize Millie’s career with a mere phone call. Millie’s voiceover poignantly states, “Behind every old white family is the ghost of a slave.”
Exploring Jamaica’s Complex Colonial Legacy
Jamaica’s colonial legacy permeates Get Millie Black, infusing social dynamics with a myriad of intersecting binaries: uptown versus downtown, black versus white, and Patois versus British English. While the narrative is laced with identity politics, the exploration of these themes feels organic and integral to the overall plot.
Millie, an ex-Londoner, exhibits a remarkable ability to fluidly shift between languages depending on her audience. In a pivotal scene, she slips into Patois while speaking with a hesitant black housemaid in the Somervilles’ kitchen, even spitting into the lemonade the maid is preparing for her affluent white employers. This code-switching proves advantageous when the maid reveals that Janet may have been pregnant, providing Millie and Curtis with a potential motive: Could Freddy have silenced Janet to conceal the evidence of their affair?
As the episode reaches a dual crescendo, a transphobic attack unfolds where Hibiscus and her friends are pursued by armed thugs—a heart-wrenching moment that forces Hibiscus to hide silently, listening to her friend’s brutal beating. Meanwhile, Millie and Curtis track down Janet to a Somerville property nestled in the hills. Without revealing too much, the mystery is just beginning to unravel.
While a few lines may tread into overt territory—such as Millie’s quip to a white officer from Scotland Yard, “you here to colonise our case?”—James’ writing remains predominantly sharp and unpredictable. Coupled with outstanding performances, particularly from Lawrance and McQueen, Get Millie Black stands in stark contrast to the formulaic police procedurals, much like Kingston itself diverges from London.
‘Get Millie Black’ continues tomorrow at 9pm on Channel 4
