Adrian Scarborough Delights In Season 2 of 'The Chelsea Detective'

Acorn TV’s The Chelsea Detective is back for a second season, and the good news is that it’s better than ever. Season 2 still offers complex plots but features a tighter feel, fewer yawning holes, and a diverse cast that includes several much-loved stars of British TV, all against the spectacular backgrounds of the River Thames and west London. Directed by Richard Signy (Death in Paradise) and Sarah Esdaile (Call the Midwife) and written by Glen Laker (Vera), Peter Fincham, Liz Lake (Riviera), and Laura Poliakoff (Devils), Season 2 consists of four feature-length episodes, as new cast member Vanessa Emme (Dublin Murders) replaces Season 1’s Sonita Henry, who played DS Priya Shamsie.

As Season 2 begins, the elite of Chelsea gather at a high-end art gallery for a private showing of a new exhibit of East German twentieth-century art. Gallery owner Rebekah Chaban (Rachael Stirling) arrives with her super-wealthy husband Benoit (Felicien Juttner), checking in with her PA Cassie Lyall (Emma Cunniffe), in charge of the catering. Once, they were close friends, but Rebekah’s marriage and attitude as Cassie’s employer have changed the relationship.

Greg Milton-Elwes (Tomiwa Edun), who runs the gallery with husband Chris Milton-Elwes (Samuel Holmes), chats up a stranger, Toby Hansard (Jack Ashton). Toby is alone, out of place. He lacks the others’ posh accents, and we learn later he’s Rebekah's fitness trainer. Whether Greg is being genuinely friendly/doing his job of welcoming potential buyers/hitting on him, we don’t know, but Toby rebuffs him, more interested in the art. Later that night, Greg returns to the gallery to check the security system was properly set and finds Chris dead, with four of the pictures missing, three cut out of their frames, including The Blue Room.