31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun light mysteries, November 10, 2004
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) backing Routledge up, "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" is a entertaining and unusual series for mystery buffs.
Hetty Wainthropp (Routledge) is not happy when she turns sixty -- not only are people congratulating her about joining the "club" of senior citizens. So she decides to make something of the latter half of life, and get a job at the post office. She manages to nab a shoplifter, Geoffrey Shawcross (Dominic Monaghan), who works as a cashier. Rather than turn in the teenager, she asks him to help her solve a crime. And so the Wainthropp Detective Agency is born.
The first season includes plenty of colorful mysteries, including a deaf-mute man who vanishes while waiting for a mail-order bride, the Mafia, old friends asking for help, and possible satanic practices. Hetty's insights into human nature (along with the help from her husband and adopted nephew) help her figure out the various mysteries.
This is not heavy-duty mystery. A few bits are mildly gruesome (a restauranteur gets sent an index finger), but the stories are light and sweet, and dosed with lots of coincidence and more-than-average doses of humor, such as poor Geoffrey dressing in drag, complete with blonde wig. That said, it is a very fun series -- just don't take it too deadly seriously.
The entire show has a sort of slow-paced, cozy feel, from the little house that Hetty and Robert live in, to the sight of Geoffrey riding a stolen bike. But it can turn dark quite quickly. The level of coincidence in these mysteries is high, lowering the complexity of the stories. It is entertaining and colorful, though.
Routledge gives a good performance as the grandmotherly Hetty, a lady of a certain age who doesn't want to just sit at home and knit, and who seems as at home checking out mysterious deaths as baking cookies. Dominic Monaghan gives an even more solid performance as the teenage sidekick Geoffrey, 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. "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" makes up for its lack of mysterious prowess by being so enchantingly down-to-earth and cozy.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hetty or Hyacinth, she's fabulous...., October 7, 2004
What's not to like about Hetty Wainthropp? While it's true the sleuthing jobs that come her way concern less than complex matters (on the surface at least), like Georges Simeon, she is seeking the psychological answer or the rationale for the behavior behind the `crimes' she investigates. Another reviewer suggested this series was "boring", but I say it is anything but. Perhaps that reviewer is a very young person, who does not yet understand, as Eliza Bennett's father noted long ago, that other people ARE what make life interesting.
Oh don't get me wrong, I am as big a fan of Miss Marple as the next mystery lover, and Hetty is not untangling Marple-type mysteries, even though like Marple she often finds herself investigating the local behavior in a village in England. Rather, Hetty is exploring the interconnections of people's lives in order to ascertain just how and why someone did something despicable to someone else.
We join Hetty in the first episode, the day she turns 60. Feeling the financial pinch brought about when her husband Robert was made redundant (the British phrase for `layed off') and emotionally flat, Hetty decides she needs to do something to restart her life. Like many older women in her predicament, Hetty decides to take a job -- as the local post mistress, where she encounters a young lad (Dominic Monaghan from the Rings films) with sticky fingers. She apprehends the thief, but rather than turn him in to the authorities, she gets an idea. He is broke and she is broke. Suppose she uses his obvious talents to create her own investigative business?
This DVD includes only the episodes from the first season. I have watched them all on PBS --many of them several times. I found these stories entertaining, and somewhat intriguing the first time and appreciated them more for their local color and character development the second and third time. I bought the DVDs because I intend to watch them again and again. One of the advantages of getting older is that you tend to forget some things like plot and story line, and can experience tv episodes as new again. These are definitely films for `old dears' like me. I can hardly wait until they release the other series. A great way to help your grandmother improve her English.
PS. You gotta love Patricia Routledge. She is Wainthropp instead of Winthrop and Bouquet instead of Bucket.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hetty is Ab-Fab, July 14, 2005
I was curious about this series. I had only heard about it and had never seen a broadcast. So I was skeptical. But I had enjoyed the Mrs. Bradley Mysteries and others who had enjoyed those had suggested these. I am so glad I took the plunge. Hetty is an absolutely fabulous character who refuses to take a back seat at the age of 60. Determined to "matter," she forges ahead and finds herself in the middle of a mystery. Before she knows it, she's taking on investigations as a profession, with a young man whom she turns from a latent shoplifter into a crack investigator's partner. Patricia Routeledge is thoroughly believable and adorable in the role. I am looking forward to the next set of DVD's on this series. I must say, it's refreshing to see a late 20th Century mystery (as opposed to the usual Golden Age era) that is more logic puzzle than CSI. These days there's far too much forensics and far too little charm!
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