Customer Reviews

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates - The Complete Second Season

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Patricia Routledge shines in this light mystery series, about a kindly ex-housewife who decides she's going to tackle crime. Think Miss Marple, but stouter, more practical, and married. With Derek Benfield and Dominic Monaghan (in his first ever role, long before he got "Lost") backing Routledge up, "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" is a entertaining and unusual series for mystery buffs.

The second season of this series chugs along pleasantly, with Hetty investigating a new round of mysteries: a spiritualist who may be scammng people, an old lady suspected of poison pen letters, and some undercover work in a women's shelter. And Geoffrey runs into a problem when his romance with a suspect's daughter threatens to derail his place at the agency.

After the successful first season of "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates," its makers thankfully didn't get swelled heads. Instead, they stuck to what worked: good chemistry between the lead actors, small-scale stories that (usually) don't focus on murder, and a heroine who isn't about to retire just because of her age. It is a very fun series -- just don't take it too deadly seriously.

Unlike your average detective show, the stories are light and sweet, and dosed with lots of coincidence and more-than-average doses of humor, such as poor Geoffrey wailing as he's dangled over a drop: "Please don't! I may not bounce!" It does have a high level of coincidence, which makes it sometimes hard to believe that the mysteries are solvable.

The the second season has the same slow-paced, cozy feel. But it can turn dark quite quickly. All the same, the small, personal level of the mysteries is a pleasant change from national scheming and massive heists; these are very realistic ordinary people, with very plausible problems, and Hetty seems like a good detective to take them on.

Routledge (best known as the infuriating Hyacinth Bucket) gives a good performance as Hetty, who can be a hard-knuckled sleuth one minute and a grandmotherly sweetie the next. Dominic Monaghan gives an even more solid performance as the teenage sidekick Geoffrey, a studied antidote to WB dolls, and is backed up by Derek Benfield as Hetty's likable husband Robert.

Perfect for curling up on a rainy day, under a blanket with a cup of something hot. The second season of "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" makes up for its lack of mysterious prowess by being so enchantingly down-to-earth and cozy.

HETTY WAINTHROP - Series 2 features the talents of Patricia Routledge playing a woman billed as `The BBC's most unlikely sleuth." Yet, watching these episodes again, I realized Hetty fills a void or market niche for sleuths, making her not all that unlikely. The kinds of cases she investigates (mostly domestic) would have been dismissed by Holmes, and considered an unworthy challenge by Poirot, but with Miss Marple out of the picture, someone has to do them. On almost every occasion, the DCI, when asked, tells Hetty, the police can not help the victim or potential victim until a crime has been committed. Thus, many of the cases involve unpleasant experiences that are not necessarily criminal...YET.

Who would you turn to if someone was sullying your name with poison pen letters? Miss Marple handled a case involving poison pen letters, and other detectives like Barnaby have handled similar problems, but usually, the letter is a blackmail letter and the person involved becomes a murder victim. The letter(s) is usually typed on a typewriter with a funny key.(Computer software can be traced too, as we discovered in last year's presidential election campaign). Hetty doesn't handle murder cases. Or does she? How did the young woman staying at a shelter end up dead when her husband found her? And, who revealed her whereabouts? How can Hetty. having been named woman of the year, show up at the dinner honoring her, and explain the bruises dished out by her perhaps not so affectionate husband Robert?

Whether the client is the intended victim of a `Rose by another name', the father of a runaway teenager, or the daughter of a woman entranced by a medium, Hetty and her sidekick Jeffrey, to say nothing of husband Robert, and brother-in-law Frank, will solve the case.

These mysteries are not complex, they are cosy. I love Hetty and I wish PBS would air all the episodes the BBC made.

If you enjoy a good mystery, you'll love Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. I fell in love with this series the very first time I saw it. Patricia Routledge (Keep Up Appearances) shines as Hetty. Along with Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings, LOST), who plays her cheeky sidekick, you just can't go wrong. This show has it all, mystery, drama, suspense, and humor. I highly recommend purchasing this dvd, along with the season one set as well.

Hetty Wainthrop is the most interesting and unusual British female detective since Agatha Christy's Jane Marple. This middle-aged private investigator (played to perfection by Patricia Routledge) assisted by her semi-retired husband and teenage apprentice PI solve some of the most fascinating "who done it" mysteries ever to be produced by the BBC. Hetty Wainthropp Investigates is the complete second season of this highly popular detective series in a DVD boxed set that includes two episodes not seen on by American audiences on the PBS Mystery! broadcasts. This 3-disc collection has a total running time of 296 minutes and is ideal for anyone Hetty Wainthropp mystery fan who might have missed any of the second season shows -- not to mention those two not-broadcast- here before episodes!

Anyone who loves PBS British "whodunits" will love this set. I love the characters and gives a good look at British life in small villages. I have already ordered the Third Season and I plan to eventually have them all. Worth every penny if you love British mysteries.

I'm a fan of Patricia Routledge from her days as Hyacinth Bucket on KEEPING UP APPEARANCES. I knew she had a knack for comedy so I wanted to see her in a drama. I was eager to see HETTY WAINTHROPP INVESTIGATES. The Complete Second Series was inexpensive so I started with that series. No doubt Series One would explain why the teenage Geoffrey Shawcross is living with Hetty and her husband Robert and how Hetty got so well-known as a private investigator.

The first two episodes of Series 2 were POISON PEN and LOST CHORDS were painstakingly slow moving and dull. In POISON PEN, people in a small village are getting very nasty anonymous letters and in LOST CHORDS, finalists in a singing competition are mysteriously losing their voices. Not very exciting stuff. Production values at times seemed low. It felt like a very low budget TV production.

The good news is things picked up with the third episode NOT ALL THERE. A man and woman with learning disabilities have run off together for holiday and they end up in a lonely cottage with a big secret. The episode was tastefully down and treated the two people with dignity and respect. Now my interest was caught. Here was a story that was fresh and different

ASTRAL PLANE allows Hetty to investigate a psychic? Is she for real or just eating up the savings of lonely pensioners. In A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME, is the mysterious photographer of mature women out for their fortunes? Finally in episode 6, Hetty investigates the death of a woman who had been living in a home for abused women.

For the most part the stories are very basic and the writing is inspired. Hetty is no Miss Marple but is fun to watch Hetty investigating investigating what may or may not be a crime. It's hard not to think of Hetty as a toned-down Hyacinth Bucket in her best dresses, capes and hat.

The real charm here is the relationship between Hetty and Geoffrey played by a teenage Dominic Monaghan (LORD OF THE RINGS and LOST). The talent in this young actor is very clear and he follows his role with fun and enthusiasm. Geoffrey has great facial features and he learns to be a detective--an idispensable aid to Hetty.
Hetty's husband Robert helps as rather inept investigator. His role seems unnecessary. It's the Hetty and Geoffrey team that has all the charm.

This is a very mild, light-hearted detective series. No violent crimes. Nothing Graphic. Just a few mysteries that need to be solved. Hetty's rates are down right bargain basement. She's doing this work for fun and to help people. Not a bad cause.

I enjoyed a few of these episodes of Series Two but won't rush out to see the other years' episode. It wasn't exciting entertainment but the series is pleasant. It's always nice to get to see the beautiful English countryside and villages.

If you like British TV as I do, you will love this series. It's excellent!

Had seen all the other season's and did'nt have the second season, but amazon all way's seen's to have what the other's dont. Mike

Hetty Wainthropp is an older lady who started up her own investigating firm and was determine to solve crimes. I loved this show because she waits to make her judgments when solving crimes and has the best help to make her thinking and shifting through the facts.

BBC mysteries in general and Hetty in particular are always more than wonderful to this anglophile.I will continue to acquire them .The evry day lives of the British working class in retirement is a bonus, aside from the cases being investigated.Those cases are refreshing in their general lack of violence and gore.Can Patricia Routledge do anything wrong?