Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1996–1998) User Reviews

Wainthropp Detective Agency.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 27 January 2020]

I am still struck by the sheer quality of the episodes, everything worked wonderfully well in conjunction, the writing, plots, charm and of course the acting.

Routledge is a joy as the Private Detective, and the chemistry with Monaghan is great, as you watch you get the impression that the pair enjoyed working with one another.

There are some super episodes, and it never really dips in quality. They produced some very memorable, and sometimes sad episodes, but there was always a story to tell, and some great characters.

Hard to believe they were made back in 1996, it was a bold series for the time, very different. It's as good in 2020 as it was back then. 9/10

If you are a fan of UK shows...

[lisainstyle · 9/10 · 23 June 2022]

...then you will enjoy this.

I love that it's so anti Hollywood. In true British style this show has a main character in her 60s, dressed in the older lady's clothing and hats...unapologetically. It's about the stories and characters.

slow but enjoyable

[Gaslog · 7/10 · 1 February 2022]

While most of the episodes are slow moving, I enjoy Patricia much more in this series than in Keeping Up Appearances, where her character got increasingly annoying. These type British series are far superior to the bland Hallmark Mysteries series with their model perfect casts and boring stories.

Quirky English comedy/drama crime series

[SunHill-2 · 20 December 1998]

Gently amusing, occasionally dramatic, quirky English TV series which features a cast of peerless players who you will soon find warming your heart each week. Recommended as a stress reliever for all sitcom weary viewers and potential travellers to England. 10 out of 10 rating given by this viewer.

I love this series

[qasdfghj · 10/10 · 31 July 2012]

What really makes this series is Hetty's demeanor. It's hard to explain but she is comforting and fierce at the same time. I love the humdrum British world it takes us to, a different culture and setting than the one I live in, but I appreciate that it gives me a taste of simpler times.

My favorite episodes: Helping Hansi (a German gardener is being harassed by residents of a building complex and pinned as a Nazi. His acting of his isolation was really good.) Woman of the Year (Hetty solves a crime at a home for battered women. It's well done) , Runaways (Again a hard topic is addressed: Hetty finds out where a two mentally disabled young adults who are in love ran off to), Fisticuffs .

Extraordinary British Crime Series

[dianerpessler-46164 · 10/10 · 3 July 2015]

Patricia Routledge gives a superb performance as the title character in a crime drama only the British can produce so exquisitely. From visionary producer/creators John Bowen and David Cook, this intriguing, penetrating mystery series is set in the deceptively tranquil, idyllic Lancashire countryside, in a small village where supposedly little happens. A harmless appearing resident homemaker named Hetty Wainthropp discovers a very dark side indeed to her surroundings and sets out to blow this peaceful hamlet wide open. Aided by a young man who she has saved from a life of brutal criminality, she becomes one of the leading private investigators in the UK and the most sought after professional in her field. At first it's a bit of a lark in order to compensate for her husband's lethargy, indolence, and unemployment but soon it's a vocation as well as an all consuming obsession, leading her down dark labyrinths of deadly danger. At times powerful and hard hitting and at others deeply moving, Hetty Waintrhropp Investigates never pulls its punches and is always extraordinarily challenging television.

A product of its time.

[SelenetheHunter · 6/10 · 30 May 2022]

This has not aged as well.... And it's hard to compare it to my fond memories growing up and watching the reruns of the reruns. It's a quirky cute little show with easy to predict solutions and what not, so it's nothing super stellar... but it's still fun for a weekend watch of something to see if you've never seen it before..... but there are more than a few nasty tidbits with old stereotypes that weren't so great and didn't age well either. But take it as it is and it's not so bad.

Wonderful now classic TV series

[hesketh27 · 10/10 · 24 July 2017]

I own the complete DVD box set of Hetty Wainthrop Investigates & have watched each series at least 3 times. The show is now being shown again on UKTV Drama so I am dipping in and out of the episodes once more. HWI is a quaint & quirky detective drama series with flashes of added humour that never lets you down. Comforting like a well loved blanket it is one of my favourite shows of all time. The cases that Hetty & Geoffrey investigate are mundane downbeat and in real life would only be of interest to those involved in them but the homely, warm feeling that the episodes radiate are pure gold. Quintessentially (Northern) English it is one to be reached for when you want an hour of harmless entertainment - the end of each episode will leave you feeling all is right with the world.

Nothing Short of Genius!

[imyourfieryhobbit · 10/10 · 26 June 2015]

I have always loved indulging in a good televised mystery such as Matlock, Columbo and even Diagnosis Murder. When I came across Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, it was shortly after learning that the brilliant British actor, Dominic Monaghan was in it. It didn't stop there though because I went on to watching Patricia Routledge in her legendary artistry in Keeping Up Appearances.

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is nothing like the master comedic performance Routledge gives in Keeping Up Appearances. This is a mystery drama, not a BritCom. The first episode introduces Hetty Wainthropp (played by Patricia Routledge) as a no nonsense stay-at-home housewife who even though she enjoys taking care of her loving husband, Robert Wainthropp (played by Derek Benfield), doing the cooking and the cleaning; yearns for something much more.

Hetty is celebrating her 65th Birthday, but flat out refuses to be called a senior citizen. After witnessing theft and a possible fraud at her new job as a type of Western Union employee, her curiosity immediately piques and she decides to explore this matter further. She goes to the chief of police and tells him of the speculation of fraud. She also subtly hints that she would like to explore this sensitive matter herself.

Well, time for an assistant. Preferably someone younger than her hubby for obvious reasons, Hetty sets her eye on Geoffrey Shawcross (played by Dominic Monaghan) and asks him to come aboard with her. They are one of those fascinating, high quality, investigative duos that will forever be difficult to top.

Patricia Routledge and Dominic Monaghan do a spectacular job in this Emmy-worthy T.V. show. After a six year run of epic proportions, there definitely needs to be talk of bringing it back for another series reunion.

Patricia Routledge as an all-round good person

[lemmondwp · 9/10 · 14 May 2014]

I knew Patricia Routledge was so good that (for me) she makes Helen Bucket (Yes, she insists it's pronounced as in bouquet.) painful to watch. I generally avoided "Keeping Up Appearances," until recently, hoping some day to see Ms. Routledge in a role I could enjoy more.

I'd already enjoyed the Masterpiece Theater mysteries, so I jumped at the chance to see Ms. Routledge in what was then a new series. She's wonderful, in a good, solid cast that tackles tough subjects with humor, sensitivity, and tough-minded goodness (Hetty). It's been years, so I don't remember the name of the teenage neighbor guy who she recruits as her assistant with her detective work. He's well cast, and works well with Ms. Routledge and other regulars and guest cast.

I really wish there were more of this series, and that I could see it all again. I hope Ms. Routledge is doing well.

Ahead of its time

[crawfmich · 4/10 · 2 January 2022]

Remember watching this on initial showing and loved it. Would have been a 10/10.

Waching now in 2022,this would fit perfectly into the current clamour for female rights/equality. Hetty is basically a stubborn bully,all the male characters are portrayed as weak/idiotic and all the culprits are all male and white,with the exception of 'Lost Chords' where the villain if female and white,though her actions are due to ,yes, a white male.

A script where the gender roles are reversed would have ended in the bin one assumes.4/10.

Great bit of "Brit TV"

[devstk · 16 November 2003]

This show is a great hours worth of British television. The main character, Hetty,who is played by Pat Routledge is best known for her ever social climbing status character Hyacinth BUCKET, pronounced Bouquet. The rest of the ensemble make you feel like they could be your next door neighbors. Geoffery, Janet and Hetty's husband Robert have that "real" feel about them. The show revolves around an older lady who does detective work, with the help, at times, from the local police inspector, D.C.I. Adams. The show has a nice flow to it, and the story lines are played out at a nice pace. A show worth watching whenever you can find it on PBS. Let's hope soon that we can find it on Video or DVD in the near future.

Thoughtful mystery without over the top crime

[daubvfbthq · 9/10 · 9 May 2022]

Well written with interesting clues and wit. Closer to everyday actual situations than most over the top mystery dramas. The main characters developed well and the show itself held to reasonable expectations given the main characters. I would have gladly watched more episodes.

Don't let the first episode discourage you--keep watching

[melee3 · 8/10 · 9 March 2022]

If you watch the first episode and feel like there is something wrong--that she was paid off to cover up a murder, it is just because of the poor editing on that episode. That is the only problem with this series--sometimes it leaves things out, jumps around too much, and doesn't do a nice wrapping up at the end.

After watching all the episodes, because I did give it another chance, I came to love the series and really appreciated how the characters grew and grew on me. There wasn't a lot of murder and mayhem, just simple mysteries that they worked on and resolved. Sometimes, it wasn't as happy an ending as you would have liked, but Hetty usually figured out what the problems were and in her careful, kind and sometimes forceful way, solved those problems.

After finishing them all, I went back to watch the first one again to see what it was I missed. (Spoiler) I did realize that the old woman wasn't murdered, they just made it look like it. It was just family drama that got a little carried away.

It is a great series and I will miss watching it. BBC did everyone a grave disservice not filming that final, 5th season.

Actually quite dark

[gb901 · 8/10 · 8 August 2021]

Watching this 20 odd years later on the drama channel I now it's actually pretty dark: Hetty gets her young prodigy Geoffrey to check under the eyelids of a corpse to see if its eyeballs have been replaced by glass and on another occasion please comforted by a sudden death - all this in the first series!

Gently social and relaxing

[Dr_Coulardeau · 8/10 · 28 September 2017]

This is a detective sitcom. It has all the charm of small criminal cases that deal with no murders or crimes of that type, but only with small crimes in local neighborhoods in Lancashire and from time to time a little bit in Yorkshire.

The main interest is the family background of the characters. Hetty and Robert Wainthropp are two older citizens who have reached retirement age but would find it difficult to go on living in good conditions on their two pensions. So they look for extra-activities. They start a private detective business and lead us into some squalid, sordid or simply sorry situations of hatred and jealousy, envy and rivalry, small demeanors and traffic. Though they do not do drugs. Later on Robert Wainthropp will manage to get a regular column in the tabloid.

But the producers wanted to change the situation from what it was in the previous fabulously popular series with the same main actress, "Keeping Up Appearances." In both cases, the son of the married couple (forty years of marriage) was away from the family home and a younger man and eventually a young couple were needed to open them up to the younger generations and their problems.

So Hetty Wainthropp selects a hardly of age young man who is more or less unemployed and trying to get away from his possessive mother who seems to be an alcoholic or something of the sort. Hetty and her husband Robert will make him an associate, a partner in the business soon after.

And then this young man who is as virginal as a lily will soon get in touch with a female mechanic who will sell him a second-hand car when he finally gets his license. And with some ups and downs, they will slowly move into a relationship, one apartment, and a future common life.

The criminal cases are there to show how disrupted the English society is up north. We are twenty years ago and you will then understand why they voted for Brexit. Closed upon their communities that are very small, with a lot of underground black market economy that is half criminal and half illegal. It is well known they could not accept European regulations that became little by little so hefty that people more or less thought they could not take a shower without paying an extra-tax and having to use no more than a gallon of water.

Not to speak of all sorts of marginals, gypsies or not, who are roaming around. And the police are just helpless most of the time, to the point of employing now and then Hetty Wainthropp to penetrate and infiltrate some dubious circles to get some information from the inside.

And they stopped the series marvelously after four years when the agency is in full bloom, Jeffrey, the younger partner, and his girlfriend are moving slowly towards some kind of an official relationship and after Robert has reestablished normal relations with his own brother. The family circle is slightly larger, though it looks a lot like a recomposed family. Parents in their older age are led to choosing the younger people who will be their side-kick children, and these younger people find in an older couple some sidekick or substitute parents of a new sort: mental parents and not blood relatives.

Frankly, who gives the slightest straw about blood!

Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

Present delving into the past of British solid series

[BeneCumb · 8/10 · 16 August 2023]

Although the technical quality and parameters of "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" do not fit the needs of many contemporary viewers, the Series gives a versatile overview of England in the 1990ies, its daily life with major views and issues then. The cases (often emanating from social problems) are not too sophisticated, many of them being trivial, but on the other hand, one can hardly expect a senior citizen and teenager solving serial killings or industrial espionage...

All the leading performances (Patricia Routledge, Derek Benfield, Dominic Monaghan are splendid, with Monaghan having his breakthrough with his role as Geoffrey), and several actors in minor roles are active in crime series of today. Mrs. Routledge is definitely in a class of their own and although her character has features I tend to dislike generally, she did not annoy me, I quite liked her views and activities.

This Series would deserve more attention even nowadays, but for that sake, for larger audiences, it should be technically restored. Bearing in mind better background understanding, you are advised to watch all seasons and episodes in succession.

Not Very Good

[bigverybadtom · 4/10 · 9 September 2015]

Not being a fan of "Keeping Up Appearances", I purposely picked the video series out of the library because I thought the stars of that series might be better off in this one, which was produced after the other show. Unfortunately, while it wasn't silly like the other show, it wasn't very good either.

The premise does evoke the stars' former show. They are an older married couple, with one problem: the wife is not legally eligible for a government pension because she had not been employed long enough, so she takes a job at a post office to fill in her missing working time. In doing so, she spots a teenage boy swiping a charity box and a suspicious couple cashing two welfare checks. She gets the box back and finds out how the couple were cashing a fraudulently-obtained check. She gets the idea into her head of being a private detective, over her husband's objections.

The show doesn't try for comedy, but it is slow-moving and dull, and the wife bullies her husband as she did in their former show. I was hoping for better. I didn't get it here.

Absolutely the best I've seen!

[kclarke5 · 31 August 2004]

I first saw this program when it appeared on the PBS "Mystery" series. I keep asking for more. Patricia Routledge surely shows that she's quite adept at performing in a mystery program as well as in comedies. I wonder if she (Hetty Wainthropp) ever investigated a

murder in any of these programs. I'm sure she'd do quite well. I know Patricia Routledge did an audio recording of some of these programs, but don't know where I can purchase them in the USA. If anyone can tell me, please contact [e-mail]. Let's hope PBS gets on the stick and rebroadcasts some of these programs, especially in Kansas City Public Television!

Love this Series

[ilcooney · 10/10 · 22 January 2024]

This is such a terrific series. The stories are intriguing and take us to a time where we feel right at home with the characters. The entire cast are splendid actors and bring a realism to every plot. This was a time when BBC was making the best tv shows that are about the story and not political views being foisted upon us. When will they get the message? A show is great when you can watch it again and still enjoy it. Series today stretch the plots too far and that's when I have to fast forward just to get through. It's unfortunate that when creativity is stunted. Bravo to creators of this series.

fun stories, poor subtitling

[drmique · 9/10 · 30 June 2022]

This is a fun series perfectly reflecting the times, but also ahead of those times in some respects (e.g., women's roles). The subtitling (English) is remarkably poor (did anyone pay for this?) and offensive in its failures: dropping key words or phrases (i.e., spoken words are simply skipped), misspellings, wrong words, and impossible words (I have no idea how that happens).

Awful

[scottyklm · 1/10 · 29 June 2020]

Absolutely dire programme that claims to be entertaining. The acting of Maddock et al really sums it up - hammy, wooden and without credibility. Don't bother watching.

Brilliant drama

[Jamfocus · 19 April 2003]

This drama was brilliant, all the actors in it gave brilliant performances, this was pure english drama which for some reason finished without a trace, why was it axed it should be brought back. Patricia Rouledge is brilliant just like she was in keeping up apperances. best mystery drama in years.

Fantastic

[jamcguigan · 3 February 2018]

Everything works in this show- the acting, the story, the pace, the directing...As others have said, it is comforting and engaging. I love Patricia and her chemistry with all co-actors( including "Keeping"); she has a special talent.Absolutely a treasure. They so should have been allowed to make more episodes

great show

[hobbit_luvr · 30 June 2002]

this show is hilarious. It is a fun show to watch would bloody recommend it to everyone. Dominic plays geoffrie the cutest character ever. In this show you will get to see such things as dominics first kiss and well the over controversial show scene. Patricia is a great actress especially as hetty. they both have impeccable talent and sophistication.