The English: how many episodes of BBC drama are there, how to watch, ending explained, will there be season 2?

Forget everything you thought you knew about Westerns. The English is BBC and Prime Video’s latest collaboration and it’s been turning heads.

Starring Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place) and Chaske Spencer (Wild Indian), the series tells the story of an aristocratic Englishwoman who is aided in a perilous journey across the Wild West by a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout to seek revenge.

Written and directed by award-winning Hugo Blick, whose past credits include: The Honourable Woman, Black Earth Rising and The Shadow Line, this limited series is described as an “epic chase Western”.

So, how many episodes are in The English and are they available to watch all at once? Here’s everything you need to know.

Beware spoilers for The English below

When was The English released?

The English dropped on BBC Two on Thursday 10 November, 2022 with episodes airing weekly. The series has been available to stream on Amazon Prime Video since Friday 11 November, with all episodes available to binge on BBC iPlayer.

How many episodes are there?

There will be six episodes of The English, with episodes dropping weekly on BBC Two. Alternatively the series can be watched in full on Amazon Prime Video or BBC iPlayer.

What is the plot?

Written and directed by award-winning Blick, The English tells the story of Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), who is grieving the loss of her son and sets off on a journey with Pawnee ex-cavalry scout Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) to seek revenge.

The English’s official synopsis reads: “An epic chase Western, The English takes the core themes of identity and revenge to tell a uniquely compelling parable on race, power and love.

“An aristocratic Englishwoman, Lady Cornelia Locke and a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout, Eli Whipp, come together in 1890 mid-America to cross a violent landscape built on dreams and blood. Both of them have a clear sense of their destiny but neither is aware that it is rooted in a shared past. They must face increasingly terrifying obstacles that will test them to their cores, physically and psychologically. But as each obstacle is overcome it draws them closer to their ultimate destination, the new town of Hoxem, Wyoming. It is here, after an investigation by the local sheriff Robert Marshall and young widow Martha Myers into a series of bizarre and macabre unsolved murders, that the full extent of their intertwined history will be truly understood, and they will come face to face with the future they must live.”

What happened in the finale?

The explosive final episode of The English saw Cornelia and Eli finally make their way to Hoxem, where with the help of local sheriff Robert Marshall and widow Martha Myers they corner David Melmont.

It’s revealed that Melmont is responsible for the death of Cornelia’s son, murdered her lover and had also sexually assaulted her, infecting her with syphilis.

Locked with guns pointed at one another, Melmont told Cornelia: “You won’t kill me, as there is a little bit of your boy walking this earth, and you can’t kill that.”

It was all over in a flash, with widow Myers shooting Melmont to protect her son, who quickly realised Melmont was still alive, giving Eli a chance to get his final justice, by finishing him off with a stab to the heart.

For the final scene we travel 13 years in the future and find ourselves in London, Cornelia is wearing a black gown and gloves and is at Flathead Jackson’s True Tales of the Wild West.

She approaches a young Native American man who recognises her after she and Eli had helped him. Cornelia tells him that Eli would be very proud and she gives him the animal skull that Eli had earlier gifted her, he kisses her hand and the pair part ways.

Will there be a season two?

The English has not been officially renewed by the BBC or Amazon Studios. It’s unlikely that the limited series will return for a second season, but if it does, fans should expect to wait until at least 2024.