Renegade Nell, review: Sally Wainwright’s swashbuckler is saved by a sensational Louisa Harland

Renegade Nell (Disney+) should come with a warning. It doesn’t, so let me supply one. You may have seen that this is a series written by Sally Wainwright, creator of Gentleman Jack (and Happy Valley, among other good things), with a feisty female lead who subverts the norms of the time. All of which may lead you to believe that this is a period drama in the same mould as Gentleman Jack. So it’s important to know that Renegade Nell is very different. Because this tale of an 18th-century highwaywoman is doused in the supernatural, and our heroine has magical powers bestowed upon her by a fairy.

Yes, a fairy, named Billy Blind. He is played by comedian and Ted Lasso actor Nick Mohammed with the hair of Joan Jett, the wardrobe of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and the voice of Mel B on helium. Billy accompanies Nell (Louisa Harland) on her adventures, acting as a cross between Tinkerbell and Jiminy Cricket. Unless you are under the age of 10 – and if you are, you shouldn’t be watching this, because some scenes are too frightening for young children – you will find the character hellishly annoying.

The character of Nell, though, is something else. Louisa Harland carries the whole series and is sensational. Harland has a gift for physical comedy – she’s best known as dim Orla in Derry Girls – but here she must also play the swashbuckling action heroine and mistress of disguise while mastering a Cockney accent.

The plot starts off simply, as Nell returns home to her family after years away. Held up at gunpoint by a gang (this is Tottenham in 1705, please insert your own joke here about how little things have changed), she suddenly finds herself possessed of otherworldly strength and skill, able to stop bullets with her bare hands and dispatch attackers with balletic ease. Before long, she is accused of a crime she didn’t commit and is forced to go on the run with her sisters and a former slave (Enyi Okoronkwo), making a living through highway robbery.

It is a Disney-esque blend of history, comedy and fantasy. Nell must evade both the forces of the law and evil spirits, the latter conjured by Adrian Lester as the malevolent Earl of Poynton. Perhaps it’s aimed at a young adult audience. But as entertainment it doesn’t quite work. The script isn’t afraid to lean into silliness, with Joely Richardson – the biggest name in the cast – playing an eccentric newspaper owner named Lady Eularia Moggerhanger.

The opening episode is strong, grounding the story in Nell’s family life. The further we get into the supernatural stuff, though, the more it feels like a rejected episode of Doctor Who. A truly memorable heroine is left battling through a script that isn’t worthy of her.

Renegade Nell is on Disney+ from Friday

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