Series / Renegade Nell

Renegade Nell is a 2024 British historical fantasy drama series created by Sally Wainwright (Gentleman Jack, Happy Valley).

Nell Jackson finds herself framed for murder and becomes a female highwayman in 18th-century England, becoming the most feared highwaywoman in the country. But when a magical spirit called Billy Blind appears, Nell realizes her destiny is bigger than she ever imagined.

The series premiered on Disney+ on March 29, 2024.

This series contains examples of:

• Accidental Kidnapping: Jephia's troupe accidentally kidnaps Polly instead of Roxy because they are wearing identical dresses at the time. This is because Nell held up Polly's carriage in a previous episode and made off with several of her belongings, including a dress.
• Action Girl: Nell is a skilled fighter, even without Billy's help.
• Ambiguous Situation:
  • It's never revealed where Billy Blind comes from, why he was sent to help Nell, or who sent him. Any time he tries to remember who sent him, the memory just slips away from him.
  • Rasselas is (or at least sincerely believes he is) the son of the King of Benin. It's unclear if this is true or, if it is, why he ended up being sold as a slave.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: In the opening scene, Charles shoots the coachman's pistol out his hand with his own.
• Brought Down to Badass: Billy Blind can give Nell Super-Strength and Super-Speed but only for self-defense. He cannot give her powers if she attacks someone else or is trying to protect someone else. Still, she's a capable Action Girl even without him.
• Bullet Catch: Nell is capable of doing this while empowered, such as when the Blancheford's groundkeeper takes a shot at her after she is framed for Lord Blancheford's murder.
• The Cavalier Years: Takes place in 1705 England.
• Colorblind Casting: The cast is pretty diverse for what is ostensibly 18th-century England, with the actors playing characters of any station from nobility to peasantry and everything in-between regardless of whether they are white, black, Asian, and so on.
• The Corrupter: As a youth, Thomas was sent to live with his uncle, which is where he met Poynton. Poynton is the one who pushes him from simply being an obnoxious Royal Brat to an outright murderer.
• Creator Thumbprint: Not unlike the writer's previous Gentleman Jack, this series features a gender nonconforming female protagonist in pre-20th Century England and period lesbian representation.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Nell utterly destroys Charles and his men after they attempt to rob her.
• Didn't Think This Through: Charles invokes this in how Nell's "plan" was to drop her sisters off with an uncle, ignoring that the reward on her head means anyone she's ever talked to her in her life is going to be suspected.
  Charles: If you have a second cousin 10 times removed who you've never clapped eyes on before living in Kent, they'll be sitting outside his house tomorrow.
• Door Fu: During her fight with Charles and his men, Nell uses the door of the coach to block a bullet before ripping it off its hinges and hurling it at the offending gunman.
• The Dreaded: Nell herself, due to her powers and the exaggerated newspaper stories about her.
• Excellent Judge of Character: The elderly Doctor Tuplow becomes the first stranger to believe in Nell's innocence after she kidnaps him in the fourth episode. It's unclear when he sees through her rather flimsy cover story; what is clear is that he quickly understands that, despite how fast she is to produce weapons and how angry she is, he is never in any danger — and she is not the murdering kind.
• Frame-Up: Thomas Blancheford uses Nell's angry attempt to get justice for her father's death to murder his father and blame her for it, with her word against his and his sister's.
• Fugitive Arc: Nell flees her home and becomes a highwayman after being framed for the death of her landlord by the landlord's son.
• Gender-Blender Name: Nell's youngest sister is named George. Her name is later revealed to be Georgina, with George being her common name.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Thomas Blancheford is the main villain who kicks off the plot of the show but Robert Hennessey, Earl of Poynton, is the one who corrupts him and has a larger, mysterious "cause" that includes at least some other powerful members of government. He is eventually revealed to be a Jacobite.
• Hero Stole My Bike: Nell holds up a man and takes his horse, clothes, and wagon but leaves him compensation.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: Charles invokes this verbatim on how he and Nell can hide out for a bit in the best way possible: Pose as a couple to get a nice hotel, figuring the staff won't realize the lovely lady in a nice dress bears a striking resemblance to the wanted posters of Nell.
• The Highwayman:
  • Nell becomes a female version of this, a "highwaywoman", when accused of murder in order to stay out of jail and take care of her sisters.
  • Charles Devereux is a particularly notorious one by the start of the story, as he is later interrogated for the many robberies of carriages in a single year.
• Historical Fantasy: Set in the early 1700s, but features magical spirits able to give supernatural abilities to humans.
• Hope Spot: Nell finally finds a magistrate who is willing to listen to her. Then he dies of a heart attack. Since the only words he's written down are "Nelly Jackson", it's assumed she murdered him and she's on the run again.
• How Do I Shot Web?: Billy is unsure of the exact limits of his power. He can give Nell powers for self defense but they're not sure if this includes Nell being forced to drink poison while her sister is being threatened.
• Immune to Bullets: The combined Super-Speed and Super-Toughness Billy Blind grants Nell makes her effectively this and it becomes something of a trademark for her. Multiple times across the series she dodges, catches, and even smacks bullets aside.
• Impoverished Patrician:
  • Charles Devereaux is technically a nobleman but has little wealth due to his father's gambling habit. His only property is a nice house full of tenants.
  • Rasselas is (or at least claims to be) the son of the King of Benin but was sold to Blanchefort as a slave.
• Insistent Terminology: According to the trailer, Nell Jackson hates being called "Nelly". "Nell" itself is traditionally a nickname for Cornelia, Eleanor, or Helen.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Nell tries to rescue Charles from prison but, when she sees how secure it is, she decides it's impossible and leaves. She only changes her mind after a chance encounter with a guard who says there's a sick prisoner, allowing her to get in as a doctor.
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: In the sixth episode, Polly mistakes Nell for a man while being in love with her after rejecting Mr. Scribble. Even when she later finds out about Nell, Polly still has her sudden moment of kissing her once.
• Luxury Prison Suite: Charles is transferred to one by his fiancee Eularia Moggerhanger, a newspaper tycoon. Then it's revealed that she only rented the place for five minutes so she could visit him in a clean place and he has to return to the regular cells. However, he's kept in the cell so that the nobility can come and gawk at a famous highwayman.
• Mad Artist: Jephia, an actor who got one bad review and brutally beat his replacement, causing his entire troupe to be blacklisted. He wants to regain his fame by capturing Nell Jackson but that's not enough for him. He kidnaps George and forces Nell to "act" in a play about Jephia's heroic capture of her. Then he tries to force her to drink poison onstage.
• Made a Slave: Rasselas is (or at least sincerely believes he is) the son of the King of Benin, a West African country. For unknown reasons, he was sold to Lord Blancheford as a playmate to Thomas and Sophia.
• May–December Romance: Between Charles and Eularia, though their romance seems to be on the rocks due to Charles' antics.
• Mock Millionaire: Charles explains his turn to robbery by how, despite his appearance, he has no wealth. His father gambled away the fortune, leaving him with just a house in Mayfair packed with tenants and Charles only two rooms in the attic. He knows folks won't look into that too much and uses his "wealthy demeanor" as a cover for his robberies.
• Mugging the Monster: The first scene of the series is Charles and his men attempting to rob Nell as she passes by, only for her to completely demolish them.
• Orifice Invasion: A rare benign version, as Billy Blind empowers Nell by flying into Nell's body, usually through her mouth or ear. The act never seems to distress Nell.
• Pistol-Whipping:
  • Charles does this to Nell when she refuses to cooperate when he first tries robbing her.
  • Nell then uses a pistol to beat on Charles' men.
• Posthumous Character: Before the events of the series, Nell married and ran away with a "Captain Jackson", much to her father's displeasure. The series starts with Nell returning home after he is killed in battle.
• Prematurely Marked Grave: Nell was believed to be killed in a battle before the events of the first episode and her family got a wooden grave marker. When she returns, she pulls it up.
• Pretty Little Headshots: When Thomas shoots his father, it leaves a small hole between the man's eyes and nothing else. Possibly justified by the fact that Thomas is using a notably small gun.
• Public Domain Character:
  • Billy Blind is a character from British Isles folk songs, called Child Ballads, which were written down for posterity in the late 19th century. In those tales, he acts as a magical advisor to the main character.
  • Poynton sends a monster modeled off Herne the Hunter. The earliest written account of him is in William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.
  • Polly Honeycombe, a young woman who Thinks Like a Romance Novel, and her boyfriend Mr. Scribble come from a 1760 romantic farce written by George Colman the Elder.
• Punched Across the Room: In the opening scene, Nell tosses Charles a dozen yards directly into the side of the coach he had been robbing.
• Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Nell's family and the rest of Tottenham were mistakenly informed that she had died with her husband at the Battle of Blenheim before the events of the show.
• Revealing Cover Up: After Thomas Blancheford kills Nell's father Sam, Lord Blancheford attempts to cover it up by claiming Sam was shot while poaching. This is so out of character for Sam, however, that it immediately makes everyone suspicious.
• Royal Brat: Thomas Blancheford, the son of the local magistrate, frequently gets drunk and causes random violence. Nobody stands up to him because someday his father will die and he will be their lord.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Well, nobles. Lord Blancheford does meet with his tenants, work with them to solve their issues, and is unhappy about his son's antics in town. Though not enough to reign him in.
• Sizeshifter: Billy usually appears as a small pixie but can appear as a normal-sized human and a giant too.
• Super-Empowering: Nell is an ordinary human who only gains powers when Billy Blind flies into her mouth.
• Super-Strength: While empowered, Nell is strong enough to bend iron bars and throw grown men a dozen yards.
• Supernatural Aid: Billy Blind gives Nell super-powers, mainly super-strength and speed, which can only be used for defensive purposes.
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Nell disguises herself as a man multiple times across the series. Since she prefers to wear men's clothes, sometimes she will be mistaken for a man even when she's not actively trying to hide her identity.
• Swirling Dust: Dirt and twigs from the forest floor begin rising off the ground around Nell when she is first imbued with Billy Blind's power.
• Sword Drag: Poynton does this with his polearm, the magical sound causing pain to people who are nowhere nearby.
• Theme Music Power-Up: Every time Billy enters Nell's throat to give her superstrength, the soundtrack shifts to a loud choir/rock tempo.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Polly Honeycombe, who elopes with a man her father forbid her to marry, abandons him when she notices his overgrown nosehairs, and switches her fixation onto Nell, the highwayman who robbed her.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After Nell suffers horribly and loses Billy to save Thomas from Poynton's spell, Sophia gives no thanks and simply orders her to vouch for them with the Queen. Nell refuses and gives them a Mercy Lead as thanks.
• Winged Humanoid: Billy Blind is depicted as such in the trailers.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Nell's reaction when Sophia asks her to tell the Queen she and Thomas were aiding Nell in defeating Poynton with Nell giving a disbelieving laugh at the woman's gall.

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