The five-part series, penned by a Booker Prize-winning author, has been praised by critics and viewers alike and boasts a smashing 100% rating.
A five-part British crime noir series is earning high praise and, fortunately, it’s available to stream for free on Channel 4.
The limited series Get Millie Black was crafted for television with a screenplay penned by Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James, who wrote A Brief History of Seven Killings.
This crime thriller marks Marlon’s screenwriting debut and first premiered on HBO in the United States on November 25, 2024. It then made its UK premiere on Channel 4 on March 5, 2025.
Get Millie Black has been steered by Tanya Hamilton – the show’s lead director – while Annetta Laufer directed two episodes and Jean Luc Herbulot directed one. The series was penned by writers Theresa Ikoko and Lydia Adetunji.
The plot revolves around the unparalleled Millie-Jean Black, a Jamaican-born police detective who is forced to leave Scotland Yard and her troubled life in London and return home to Jamaica, where she joins the Jamaican Police Force.
Once back in Kingston, Millie and her partner Curtis start investigating a missing persons case which intersects with another — bringing Scotland Yard detective Luke Holborn to Millie’s doorstep. The show grapples with complex themes and delves into the painful and troubled legacy of slavery, racism, classism, sexuality, and generational cycles of trauma in the post-colonial Jamaican and British landscape.
Get Millie Black features the brilliant Tamara Lawrance in the starring role, alongside Joe Dempsie, Anjli Mohindra, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, Chyna McQueen, Nestor Aaron Absera, and Peter John Thwaites.
The five-part mini series is available to watch without charge on Channel 4, with episodes running for an hour on average, reports the Express.
Discussing Get Millie Black and how Millie’s character came to life, Marlon revealed: “My mother was one of the first policewomen in Jamaica to make detective. Storytelling has always struck me first and foremost as a mystery to be solved – which I’m sure I got from her. Millie, from the second she appeared in my imagination, was a brilliant, mercurial, hilarious, unpredictable force of nature; someone who was always there, just waiting for her story to be told. I didn’t create her, I found her.”
Boasting a perfect 100% score on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, Get Millie Black has received endless praise from critics, with one penning: “Get Millie Black lives and breathes. This might be a crime thriller, but it isn’t just a crime thriller. In the right hands, a crime thriller can contain multitudes.”
Meanwhile, another reviewer commented: “We got more story in the first 300 seconds than some series manage in an hour-long episode.”
In another glowing review of the series, a third critic remarked: “Crime shows, especially missing girl shows, often feel barren, or at least frozen in their Scandinavian snowscapes. Millie, on the other hand, feels abundant.”
And yet another impressed reviewer said: “Get Millie Black works well as a gory whodunit (with a genuinely unnerving twist at the centre). But the outstanding performances and the crimes in this setting make the show unique.”
Audience reviews follow in a similar vein, with one viewer writing: “All I’m going to say is wow. Watched all episodes in one sitting. Terrific detective series.”
While another audience member commented: “Worth a good watch if you’re interested in crime dramas. Especially if you want something original like this one, which takes place in Jamaica. Matter of fact, you don’t see many Jamaican movies/tv shows nowadays, and I’m glad that I’d checked it out. Great acting, good writing, and pacing that makes the series sort and simple since this is a limited series.”
Get Millie Black is available to stream for free on Channel 4.












