Renegade Nell is a British historical fantasy series released on Disney+ in March 2024. The series was written by Sally Wainwright and directed by Ben Taylor, Amanda Brotchie, and MJ Delaney.
The series follows Nell Jackson, played by Louisa Harland [Derry Girls], a woman who hasn’t been seen by her family for years and suddenly returns with a magical sprite, Billy Blind, played my Nick Mohammed [Ted Lasso]. The original series title was The Ballad of Renegade Nell, which is a nice nod to the folklore of Billy Blind, as he appears only in ballads.
At the series onset, Nell has been framed for murder and finds herself on the run with her sisters Roxy [Bo Bragason] and George [Florence Keen]. They are joined by Rasselas [Enyi Okoronkwo] who had worked for the Blancheford family, comprised of Lord Blancheford [Pip Torrens], and his children Thomas [Jake Dunn] and Sofia [Alice Kremelberg].
Set to the backdrop of 18th-century England, the power struggles of Europe are intrinsic to the series’ plot, but we are also treated by highwaywoman antics (does this seem familiar to anything else of late?) as well as gauche toffs, much aided by Charles Devereux [Frank Dillane], and even a bit of social uprising.
None of the performances are played as particularly straight, except for in the case of the villains, and I particularly enjoyed Dillane’s performance as self-professed “waste of space”. Harland is exceedingly watchable, and although I will admit some of the stunt cinematography was not pulling the wool over anybody’s eyes, she has a great presence on the screen. I did find the accent a little distracting, but not so much so I couldn’t concentrate.
The overall tenor of the show is swashbuckling mischief with an overture of the supernatural. However, all this mischief comes at the cost of a series which at times seems disorderly and incongruous. Moreover, the themes of social class and gender politics, fleeting as they are in this series, do not have the ability to hold together the parts of the script that seem to run off in different directions. Even if the series doesn’t have too much to say about either, it’s still nice to see a female-led series in this genre, as opposed its contemporary historical series which are predominantly male-led (Artful Dodger, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Our Flag Means Death).
That being said, the I found the series to be incredibly enjoyable, and found myself looking forward to each episode. Elements of the series could be tightened up in places to appease a wider audience – younger viewers are not likely to be disquieted by a slightly muddled narrative. Still, at present time, perhaps the logistics of the Renegade Nell world will be further explored in a second series, which is rumoured to be on the cards.
Final rating: 8/10.
Screen Waffle 
Great review, I agree with you that despite it’s shortcomings and perhaps lack of focus around social and class issues, it was still really enjoyable. With a second series they may be able to tighten those aspects up and it could become even better
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