Opening Theme: HETTY WAINTHROPP INVESTIGATES

With the release of my new whodunit Nursing a Grudge starring geriatric amateur sleuth Earl Walker, this blog is featuring senior citizen detective shows the next several weeks ...

Henrietta "Hetty" Wainthropp, a sixty-ish housewife in Lancashire, England, was introduced as an amateur sleuth in David Cook's 1986 novel Missing Persons. However, a TV movie based on the book led to a series -- and rather than keep her amateur status, the producers decided to make crime her business. Thus was born Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (BBC One, 1996-1998), wherein Hetty (played by Patricia Routledge) and young sidekick Geoffrey Shawcross (Dominic Monaghan) open up a proper office for private investigations.

As described by Thrilling Detective: "While the series is definitely aimed at fans of 'cozies' rather than hard-boiled fiction -- it's highly unlikely, for instance, that the non-violent, bus-pass-owning Hetty will ever get mixed up in a car chase, a shootout, or a wild fistfight -- Hetty has at least a few 'tough guy' qualities that make her more than just a eccentric P.I wannabe. First and foremost, she's quite strong willed and plain-spoken, and her cases occasionally take her into some (relatively) rough locales that would make Miss Marple faint dead away."

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates Opening/Closing Titles


More TV Main Titles:
Opening Theme: BARNABY JONES
Opening Theme: MRS. BRADLEY MYSTERIES
Opening Theme: MISS MARPLE
Opening Theme: CRAZY LIKE A FOX
Opening Theme: PERRY MASON RETURNS