Genre Cozy Crime Composer(s) Nigel Hess Original language(s) English | Created by David Cook Country of origin United Kingdom | |
Starring Patricia Routledge
Derek Benfield
Dominic Monaghan
John Graham Davies
Suzanne Maddock
Frank Mills | ||
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is a British cosy crime television programme that aired four series between 1996 and 1998 on BBC One.
Contents
Patricia Routledge starred as the title character, Henrietta "Hetty" Wainthropp, Derek Benfield as her patient husband Robert, Dominic Monaghan as her assistant and lodger Geoffrey Shawcross, and John Graham Davies as DCI Adams. Later episodes include Suzanne Maddock as Janet Frazer, a feisty young auto mechanic and Frank Mills as Robert's brother Frank.
In the United States, episodes have been featured on PBS's anthology programme Mystery!.
Production
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is based on characters from the novel Missing Persons (1986) by David Cook, who co-wrote the episodes with John Griffith Bowen. The incidents in Cook's novel were inspired by his own mother's experiences. Prior to the pilot going into production, Patricia Routledge read the story Missing Persons for BBC Radio 4's A Book At Bedtime in February 1987.
In 1990 ITV broadcast a feature-length pilot, Missing Persons, featuring Tony Melody as Robert Wainthropp and Garry Halliday as Geoffrey Shawcross, but ITV opted not to pursue a series. The storyline of this episode is ignored in the subsequent BBC series, with the first episode establishing Hetty as a detective in her first case and meeting Geoffrey for the first time. The characterization of Hetty was altered considerably for the series from the pilot. The 'original' Hetty was blonde and far more 'theatrical' in her manner. Additionally, the pilot character lived in considerably better circumstances than the home seen in the series.
The BBC series was filmed primarily in Burnley, Darwen, Blackburn, Rossendale, Bolton and other locations in Lancashire.
The music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess, cornet solo performed by Phillip McCann and in 1997 the title track was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for best television theme.
The BBC series was popular with viewers, but no further episodes were commissioned after 1998. In 2008 Patricia Routledge said in an interview that the cast and crew had been told by the BBC at the end of the fourth series that a fifth series would be commissioned, but it never was.
Synopsis
Hetty Wainthropp is a retired working-class woman from Darwen in North West England, who has a knack for jumping to conclusions and solving crimes of varying bafflement which often are too minor to concern the police. Although on occasion her husband offers assistance, he more often than not tends to the home while Hetty gads about the countryside with young Geoffrey in search of resolution and justice. In many episodes Hetty seeks the help and advice of DCI Adams of the local constabulary.
Series 1
Broadcast Wednesdays on BBC1 at 9:30pm. Produced by Carol Parks.
Series 2
Broadcast Fridays on BBC1 at 9:30pm. Produced by Carol Parks.
Series 3
Broadcast Fridays on BBC1 at 9:30pm. Produced by Carol Parks.
Series 4
Broadcast Fridays on BBC1 at 9:30pm. Produced by Carol Parks.
DVD releases
The BBC series has been released on DVD by Acorn Media in the UK and United States, by Madman Films in Australia, and by Lime-Lights Pictures in Belgium and the Netherlands.