--- title: "Get Millie Black" year: 2024 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/get-millie-black" fi1m_id: "get-millie-black" imdb_id: "tt16369304" tmdb_id: 201646 wikidata_id: "Q112078191" fi1m_score: 75 critics_score: 77 critics_reviews: 8 published: "2026-10-01T00:35:09.604578+00:00" updated: "2026-10-01T00:35:11.152576+00:00" region: "LT" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Get Millie Black (2024) Created by Marlon James · Crime, Drama ## Identity Get Millie Black - **Canonical:** https://film.one/tv/get-millie-black - **Type:** Series - **Fi1m ID:** get-millie-black - **IMDb ID:** tt16369304 - **TMDB ID:** 201646 - **Wikidata ID:** Q112078191 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16369304/, https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/201646, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q112078191 **Fi1m score: 75** · Critics 77 from 8 reviews *In a sentence:* Kingston, a missing schoolgirl, and a London detective who keeps mistaking himself for the main character > Marlon James’s five-part Kingston crime story has a lead performance from Tamara Lawrance that holds it together when the case does not. Vivid and sharp-tongued, better at people than plot, and in a hurry by the final episode. ## Synopsis Kingston, Jamaica. Detective Millie-Jean Black (Tamara Lawrance) has come home after years in the London police to work missing persons for the Jamaican force, where cases like hers get little attention and less money. A schoolgirl, Janet Fenton (Shernet Swearine), has vanished, and the trail leads towards Freddie Summerville (Peter John Thwaites), the son of one of the island’s wealthy families. Millie works it with her partner Curtis (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr), and away from the station she is trying to look after her sister Hibiscus (Chyna McQueen), who lives in the gullies beneath the city and does not want looking after. Then Luke Holborn (Joe Dempsie), a detective from Scotland Yard, lands in Kingston on a case of his own that runs straight into hers. ## Review Marlon James has brought Kingston to television and has refused to tidy it up for visitors. *Get Millie Black* is five episodes about a detective, Millie-Jean Black (Tamara Lawrance), who has come back from the London police to work missing persons in Kingston, and about a schoolgirl nobody with power is looking for. It is good. We would recommend it to anyone who likes a crime story with some weather in it, with the warning that the case it is built on is the weakest thing in it, and it gets weaker as it goes. Lawrance is the reason to stay. She plays Millie clenched: shoulders up, voice flat, a woman who has learned to say less than she knows. James gives her a running narration, and the pleasure of it is the gap between the flat voice she uses on colleagues and the one in her head, which is furious and funny and does not stop. Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, as her partner Curtis, is the one person she speaks to normally, and their scenes in the car have the easy rhythm of a long working marriage. James and Theresa Ikoko’s scripts give everyone a particular way of talking, and the series trusts you to keep up. The scenes that got at us were not in the police station. Millie’s sister Hibiscus (Chyna McQueen) lives in the gullies that run under the city, among people the force would rather not see, and McQueen plays her as the louder, quicker and braver of the two. When Millie tries to help, Hibiscus will not be helped, and Lawrance’s face in those scenes, wanting to hold on and knowing it is not hers to decide, moved us more than anything in the investigation. We did not expect a whodunit to send us away thinking about a sister rather than a suspect, and this one did. Antonia Lowe’s production design does more than any speech to explain the Kingston the series sees. The uptown houses are white and cool and have too many empty rooms; the gully is corrugated zinc and painted concrete with a river of rubbish through the middle; the police station sits between the two in beige and strip light, and nobody in it looks as if they are paid enough. The three directors, Tanya Hamilton, Annetta Laufer and Jean Luc Herbulot, keep the camera close to faces and let the heat show on them. Carly Paradis’s music is mostly low drums and bass, under the dialogue rather than on top of it, and it has the sense to stop when a scene needs to be quiet. The case is the trouble. It begins as a missing girl and grows, as these things do, into something larger involving the island’s rich and a reach across the Atlantic, and by the fourth episode we were keeping a list of who knew what, and the list was not helping. Joe Dempsie’s Luke Holborn, the Scotland Yard man who arrives from London and treats the Jamaican police as local colour, is written as a point about Britain and Jamaica and plays as one. Dempsie does what he can, but the character is there to be wrong about things so that Millie can be right. Anjli Mohindra and Christopher Daley have roles that promise more than five hours leave room for. Five episodes is a sensible length for this story, and the last one is still rushing to finish. The comparison the series invites and resists is *Death in Paradise*, the one with a British detective solving murders in the Caribbean sun. *Get Millie Black* has the same island and the same visitor, and uses them to say something sharper: the visitor is not the hero and the sun is not a holiday. Most critics have taken it as a welcome break from the usual procedural, and we agree with them more or less exactly, including the ones who found the mystery the least of it. Watch it close together, two episodes a night, so the names stay in your head. And keep an eye on McQueen, who takes every scene she is given. *Fi1m score 75, published 1 October 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are unanimously favourable, and the spread is narrow: nobody is rapturous and nobody is unimpressed. Most critics welcome the series as a break from the stale run of police procedurals, and the praise clusters in two places. The first is Tamara Lawrance, whose lead performance is singled out again and again, usually alongside Chyna McQueen, with the relationship between the two siblings named as the thing that stays with you. The second is Kingston itself: critics find the city drawn with care and a sharp eye for Jamaica’s social divisions, and several pick out the dialogue and production design. The reservations gather around the plot. The Guardian thinks the central conspiracy loses its grip later on; The Hollywood Reporter calls the case perfunctory; Collider finds the investigation hard to follow; The AV Club, the coolest voice here, thinks the mystery lukewarm and predictable. Nobody dismisses the series for it. Variety is the most enthusiastic, calling it gripping throughout. ## Straight answers **Is Get Millie Black worth watching?** *Get Millie Black* is worth watching for anyone who likes a crime story rooted in a particular place, and we scored it 75. Tamara Lawrance's clenched, dryly narrated detective and her scenes with her sister in Kingston's gullies are the reason to stay. The missing-girl case grows tangled and the final episode hurries, so come for the people rather than the mystery. **Where can I watch Get Millie Black in Lithuania?** *Get Millie Black* is streaming on HBO Max in Lithuania, and it is also available to buy from Amazon Prime Video. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How violent or frightening is Get Millie Black, and is it suitable for children?** *Get Millie Black* is an adult crime drama, rated TV-MA in the United States with no UK certificate, and it is not suitable for children. It concerns a vanished schoolgirl, the island's wealthy and the poor living in the gullies beneath Kingston, and we found its sharpest moments in family tension rather than in on-screen violence. Older teenagers used to crime drama should manage it. **How does Get Millie Black compare to The Harder They Come?** *Get Millie Black* and [*The Harder They Come*](https://film.one/film/the-harder-they-come) are both Kingston crime stories, but the series is the more polished and the film the rougher and more alive. Jimmy Cliff and the music carry Perry Henzell's film when its storytelling frays; Tamara Lawrance carries the series when its plot does. Choose the film for the soundtrack and the city as it was, the series for character. **What should I watch after Get Millie Black?** After *Get Millie Black*, try [*The Harder They Come*](https://film.one/film/the-harder-they-come) (1972, Fi1m 80): Kingston on film before anyone had decided how it should look; still rough and still alive. Then [*Mare of Easttown*](https://film.one/tv/mare-of-easttown) (2021, Fi1m 78): A missing girl, a tired detective and a town that would rather not talk. ### Reviews we read (8) - **Variety**, Aramide Tinubu (85/100, inferred): Tinubu finds the series a distinct, gripping whodunit that builds into a complex web of crime. She especially praises its immersive, nuanced portrayal of Kingston and the outstanding performances. [Read](https://variety.com/2024/tv/reviews/get-millie-black-review-hbo-1236217342/) - **The Guardian**, Hannah J Davies (80/100, inferred): The Guardian finds the series clever, unsettling and often excellent, though its central criminal conspiracy weakens later on. It particularly praises Tamara Lawrance’s performance and the affecting relationship between Millie and Bis. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/mar/05/get-millie-black-review-every-bit-as-great-as-a-caribbean-true-detective) - **The i Paper**, Emily Watkins (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the series a smart, refreshing departure from stale police procedurals. She particularly praises Tamara Lawrance and Chyna McQueen’s performances and the show’s nuanced handling of Jamaica’s social divisions. [Read](https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/get-millie-black-review-police-procedurals-stale-welcome-change-3565077) - **Radio Times**, Morgan Cormack (75/100, inferred): The critic argues that the series breaks the crime-drama mould and deserves to be judged on its own terms. The headline singles out its distinction from comparisons with Death in Paradise, but the article text is unavailable. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/get-millie-black-death-in-paradise-comment/) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Daniel Fienberg (75/100, inferred): Fienberg finds the series a vivid, smartly written take on familiar crime-drama conventions, though its central case becomes somewhat perfunctory. He especially praises the distinctive dialogue and Tamara Lawrance and Chyna McQueen’s performances. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/get-millie-black-review-hbo-1236066682/) - **The AV Club**, Whitney Friedlander (B-): The review finds the mystery lukewarm and predictable but says the series remains engaging. It praises the performances, especially Shernet Swearine and Chyna McQueen, along with the dialogue and immersive production design. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/get-millie-black-review-tv-hbo) - **Digital Spy** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the series fresh and exciting, and a welcome alternative to lighter crime dramas. They especially praise Tamara Lawrence’s nuanced performance and the show’s authentic portrayal of Kingston. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a64083300/get-millie-black-review-death-in-paradise-comparison/) - **Collider**, Isabella Soares (7/10): Soares finds the series intense and socially thoughtful, though its investigation is difficult to follow. She praises Tamara Lawrance and Chyna McQueen’s nuanced sibling dynamic. [Read](https://collider.com/get-millie-black-review/) ## Details - **Created by:** Marlon James - **Creator:** Marlon James - **Director:** Tanya Hamilton, Annetta Laufer, Jean Luc Herbulot - **Writer:** Marlon James, Theresa Ikoko - **Music:** Carly Paradis - **Production design:** Antonia Lowe - **Cast:** Tamara Lawrance as Millie-Jean Black; Joe Dempsie as Luke Holborn; Gershwyn Eustache Jnr as Curtis; Chyna McQueen as Hibiscus; Christopher Daley as Lance Stennet; Shernet Swearine as Janet Fenton; Belinda Reid as Barracat; Peter John Thwaites as Freddie Summerville - **Release (Lithuania):** 25 November 2024 - **Genres:** Crime, Drama - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0wrsROQFbk ## Where to watch in Lithuania - HBO Max: streaming - Amazon Prime Video: buy, hd *Checked 2026-10-01.* Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, CA, CH, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IS, IT, LT, MY, NL, NO, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TH, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The Harder They Come* (1972), Fi1m 80: Kingston on film before anyone had decided how it should look; still rough and still alive. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-harder-they-come.md) - *Happy Valley* (2014): Another woman detective carrying her family on her back while the job tries to break her. - *Mystery Road* (2018): An outsider policeman in a small Australian town, where the land knows more than the witnesses. - *Mare of Easttown* (2021), Fi1m 78: A missing girl, a tired detective and a town that would rather not talk. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/mare-of-easttown.md) - *The Killing* (2007): The Danish original: one case, slowly, with a lead who never raises her voice. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/get-millie-black