Product Details

• Actors: Patricia Routledge, John Graham-Davies, Suzanne Maddock, Frank Mills, Wanda Ventham
• Writers: David Cook, John Bowen
• Producers: Rebecca Eaton
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Acorn Media
• DVD Release Date: March 29, 2005
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007GP714
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #32,462 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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  Movies & TV > Mystery & Suspense > British Mystery Theater > Hetty Wainthorp

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Supergran sleuth Hetty Wainthropp gets her wings as a private eye in this funny and touching drama never aired in the U.S. An unstoppable force of nature in a hat and sensible shoes, Hetty decides to try tracking down the long-lost son of her best friend’s husband. A taste of success encourages her to go looking for missing persons as a professional sleuth. Only her aching feet slow her down as she searches for teenage runaways in the bustling streets, dark alleys, and strip clubs of London. While Hetty’s husband, Robert, wants her back home and in the kitchen, Hetty never leaves a job half finished, no matter how hard it turns out to be. Starring the U.K.’s favorite actress, Patricia Routledge (Keeping Up Appearances).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, For What It's Worth, August 4, 2005

By	Jeannette DuPree (South Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this movie because I had really grown to love the Hetty series, and was sure I could still love it without Dominic Monaghan. What I didn't realise is that Derek Benfield wasn't in it as her husband, either. The chemistry between all the characters is fairly lacking, and I found the story itself highly improbable.

The story is basically this: Hetty goes off to find a friend's son, son is found, but HIS son ran away! Hetty goes off to find this son, and is befriended by an elderly man (who is a little too fiesty, and makes me uncomfortable...Hetty's MARRIED!) who helps her in the search. At long last he is found, and do you know who this found son is? That's right! Hetty's sidekick Geoffrey! Of course, Dominic Monaghan is Geoffrey in the "new" series, and I am glad of it! This Geoffrey seems all wrong, and is nowhere near cheeky.

It's fun to see the changes they made, and that they decided to find someone with CHEMISTRY! If you love Hetty, you might want this DVD. I say rent it before you buy. It's good for a standalone DVD, but if you imagine it to be like the series, you will be disappointed.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant, But Not Particularly Engrossing, April 20, 2005

By	C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Hetty Wainthropp is a popular sleuth from British television who has shown up on PBS now and then. She's played by Patricia Routledge as a practical, no-nonsense woman with a sense of humor who got in the sleuthing game when her husband retired and she decided she could solve a mystery as well as the next person and make a little extra money doing it. The series started in 1996. This is the pilot. It was made in 1990 and wasn't picked up. It took six years before people figured out how to make the show work. This pilot, unfortunately, sort of demonstrates why the powers passed the first time.

Hetty is reluctantly asked to find the lost son of her best friend's husband. He'd been married once before. She does so by being smart and persistent, but then she's asked by the son to find his son, a 16-year old who has gone missing. Eventually she does, but only after some adventures.

Unfortunately, the mystery is much less a mystery than a family drama. Much time is spent on the characters' past. A good deal of time at the end is spent with Hetty trying to bring back some spirit to her best friend after the husband dies of a stroke. By the end of the program the grandson is going to work with Hetty on more cases and Hetty's husband is starting to complain about all the frozen meals she leaves him while she's out sleuthing.

Patricia Routledge is great in breathing character and interest into Hetty. It's the story itself that just doesn't have a lot of energy. Still, it was fun to see how Hetty got her start and to compare the changes that were made between this pilot and, six years later, the series.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as enjoyable as the series., April 16, 2005

By	St. Ananas (Twin Cities, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This movie was made years before the series (perhaps while Patricia Routledge was doing Keeping Up Appearances). It tells a slightly different, and more fleshed-out version of how Hetty got into detective work. It is a different supporting cast, and I missed Dominic Monaghan as Geoffrey. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. If you are a Hetty fan I suggest you rent it.