Hetty Wainthropp Investigates
Series titles. The background is formed from multiple "photographs".
Genre	Crime/Comedy drama
Created by	David Cook (book)
Starring	Patricia Routledge Derek Benfield Dominic Monaghan John Graham Davies Suzanne Maddock
Composer(s)	Nigel Hess
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	4
No. of episodes	27 (+ 1 special) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michael Wearing
Producer(s)	Carol Parks
Running time	60 minutes (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV (pilot)/BBC One
Original run	3 January 1996 – 4 September 1998

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is a genteel British crime-comedy drama television series which aired from 1996 to 1998 on BBC One. The series starred Patricia Routledge as the title character (Hetty Wainthropp), Derek Benfield as her patient husband Robert, Dominic Monaghan as their boarder (and her assistant) Geoffrey Shawcross and John Graham Davies as DCI Adams. Later episodes include Suzanne Maddock as Janet Frazer, a feisty young auto mechanic who sells a car to Geoffrey; their relationship develops by the end of the series. Many of the episodes have been featured on the American PBS series Mystery!.

The series is based on characters from the 1986 novel Missing Persons by David Cook (who co-wrote the series with John Griffith Bowen). The incidents in Cook's book were inspired by his own mother's real-life experiences. Before Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, there had been a feature-length pilot episode, entitled Missing Persons, originally broadcast in 1990 on ITV and featuring Tony Melody as Robert Wainthropp. However, ITV opted not to pursue a series.

Hetty Wainthropp is a retired working-class woman in Lancashire, 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.

This wholesome series was very popular with viewers, but despite this no further episodes have been commissioned. In a 2008 interview, Routledge said 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, though it never was.^[1]

Contents 1 Episodes 1.1 Series 1 1.2 Series 2 1.3 Series 3 1.4 Series 4 2 Production 3 DVD releases 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Episodes

Pilot;

• "Missing Persons" (30 May 1990)

[edit] Series 1

1. "The Bearded Lady" (3 January 1996)
2. "Eye Witness" (10 January 1996)
3. "Fingers" (17 January 1996)
4. "Widdershins" (24 January 1996)
5. "A High Profile" (31 January 1996)
6. "Safe as Houses" (7 February 1996)

[edit] Series 2

1. "Poison Pen" (30 November 1996)
2. "Lost Chords" (5 December 1996)
3. "Runaways" (13 December 1996)
4. "The Astral Plane" (20 December 1996)
5. "A Rose by Any Other Name" (3 January 1997)
6. "Woman of the Year" (10 January 1997)

[edit] Series 3

1. "All Stitched Up" (28 November 1997)
2. "Daughter of the Regiment" (5 December 1997)
3. "Serving the Community" (12 December 1997)
4. "Fisticuffs" (19 December 1997)
5. "Childsplay" (2 January 1998)
6. "Pursuit by Proxy" (9 January 1998)
7. "A Minor Operation" (16 January 1998)
8. "Helping Hansi" (23 January 1998)
9. "How Time Flies" (30 January 1998)

[edit] Series 4

1. "Something to Treasure" (24 July 1998)
2. "Family Values" (31 July 1998)
3. "Digging for Dirt" (7 August 1998)
4. "Mind over Muscle" (14 August 1998)
5. "Blood Relations" (21 August 1998)
6. "For Love nor Money" (4 September 1998)

Special

• "Wetty Hainthrop Investigates" (12 March 1999) — 'Comic Relief Special' starring Victoria Wood, Julie Walters and Duncan Preston.

[edit] Production

The series was filmed primarily in areas of Lancashire such as Burnley, Darwen, Blackburn, Rossendale and Bolton. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess, and in 1997 was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for best television theme.

[edit] DVD releases

In the United States, the DVD releases were distributed by Acorn Media; the DVD's were released by BBC Home Video in the UK, currently Acorn Media UK, with Madman Films releasing "Hetty Wainthropp" in Australia; in Belgium and The Netherlands distribution was done by Lime-Lights Pictures.

DVD Name	Release Date
	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates: The Complete Series 1	7 September 2004	11 October 2004	31 October 2007
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates: The Complete Series 2	9 August 2005	22 January 2007	9 April 2008
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates: The Complete Series 3	31 January 2006	5 March 2007	9 July 2008
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates: The Complete Series 4	N/A	10 September 2007	8 October 2008
Hetty Wainthropp Investigates: The Complete Collection	4 September 2007	7 January 2008	20 October 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Hetty Wainthropp Investigates at the Internet Movie Database
• Missing Persons at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Hetty Wainthropp Investigates Characters Hetty Wainthropp · Robert Wainthropp · Geoffrey Shawcross Creators David Cook