''Hetty Wainthropp Investigates'' is a British
crime drama
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...
television series, starring
Patricia Routledge as the title character, Henrietta "Hetty" Wainthropp, that aired for four series between 3 January 1996 and 4 September 1998 on
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
. The series, spawned from a pilot episode entitled "Missing Persons" aired by
ITV in 1990, was co-created by writers
David Cook and
John Bowen, co-starred
Derek Benfield
Derek Benfield (11 March 1926 – 10 March 2009) was a British playwright and actor.
He was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, and educated at Bingley Grammar School. He was the author of the stage farce ''Running Riot'' and playe ...
as Hetty's patient husband Robert, and
Dominic Monaghan as her assistant and lodger Geoffrey Shawcross.
Other co-stars in the series include
John Graham Davies
John Graham-Davies is a Canadian/British actor, writer, and left-wing political activist, most famous for playing Les Hunter in the soap-opera ''Hollyoaks'' from 2001 to 2005.
During his early career Graham-Davies was a member of the Canadian N ...
as local chief of police DCI Adams;
Suzanne Maddock
Suzanne Maddock (born 13 February 1976 in New Brighton, Wirral) is an English actress, singer and voice actress. Suzanne has been an industry professional since 1994, working in both TV and Film. She first appeared in the ITV police procedural ...
as Janet Frazer, a feisty young auto mechanic; and
Frank Mills as Robert's brother Frank. In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, episodes have broadcast as part of
PBS's anthology series ''
Mystery!''. A parody of the series, entitled ''Wetty Hainthropp Investigates'', aired on 12 March 1999 as part of the
Comic Relief telethon starring
Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood (19 May 1953 – 20 April 2016) was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director.
Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over se ...
,
Julie Walters
Dame Julia Mary Walters (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Julie Walters, is an English actress. She is the recipient of four British Academy Television Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two International Emmy Awards, a B ...
and
Duncan Preston
Duncan Preston (born 11 August 1946) is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in television productions written by Victoria Wood, including his role in the soap opera parody sketches '' Acorn Antiques'' and as Stan in the sitcom '' ...
.
Production
''Hetty Wainthropp Investigates'' is based on characters from the novel ''Missing Persons'' (1986) by
David Cook, who co-wrote the episodes with
John 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
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...
ITV broadcast a feature-length pilot, ''Missing Persons'', featuring
Tony Melody
Tony may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer
* Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...
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
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...
,
Darwen,
Blackburn,
Rossendale,
Bolton and other locations in
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...
.
The music for the series was composed by
Nigel Hess, the cornet solo was 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. In 2017
Suzanne Maddock
Suzanne Maddock (born 13 February 1976 in New Brighton, Wirral) is an English actress, singer and voice actress. Suzanne has been an industry professional since 1994, working in both TV and Film. She first appeared in the ITV police procedural ...
shared her memories of making ''Hetty Wainthropp Investigates'' in a 45-minute interview for "The Bill Podcast" and explained how she felt disappointed for the fans of the series that they did not get to see a proper conclusion to the series.
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
DCI may be an abbreviation for:
Technology
* D-chiro-inositol, an isomer of inositol
* Data, context and interaction, an architectural pattern in computer software development
* Direct Count & Intersect, an algorithm for discovering frequent se ...
Adams of the local
constabulary.
Cast
*
Patricia Routledge as Henrietta "Hetty" Wainthropp
*
Derek Benfield
Derek Benfield (11 March 1926 – 10 March 2009) was a British playwright and actor.
He was born in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, and educated at Bingley Grammar School. He was the author of the stage farce ''Running Riot'' and playe ...
as Robert Wainthropp
*
Dominic Monaghan as Geoffrey Shawcross
*
John Graham Davies
John Graham-Davies is a Canadian/British actor, writer, and left-wing political activist, most famous for playing Les Hunter in the soap-opera ''Hollyoaks'' from 2001 to 2005.
During his early career Graham-Davies was a member of the Canadian N ...
as DCI Adams
*
Suzanne Maddock
Suzanne Maddock (born 13 February 1976 in New Brighton, Wirral) is an English actress, singer and voice actress. Suzanne has been an industry professional since 1994, working in both TV and Film. She first appeared in the ITV police procedural ...
as Janet Frazer
*
Frank Mills as Frank Wainthropp
Episodes
Pilot (1990)
Series 1 (1996)
Series 2 (1996–1997)
Series 3 (1997–1998)
Series 4 (1998)
DVDs
All four series have been released on DVD in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
and
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
by Acorn Media. In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, the series was released by Madman Films. In
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
and the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, the series was released by Lime-Lights Pictures.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
BBC television dramas
1996 British television series debuts
1998 British television series endings
1990s British drama television series
1990s British crime television series
Television shows based on British novels
English-language television shows
1990s British mystery television series
Detective television series