Season One Episode Summaries

Hetty Wainthropp, aged sixty, has opened a detective agency, with 17-year-old Geoffrey Shawcross (reformed shoplifter) as her assistant, and her retired husband Robert aiding and abetting them. They have to contend with a lack of transport (they use the bus or a borrowed motor scooter to get around) and a lack of proper publicity, but they do have occasional assistance from the local police.


Episode One - The Bearded Lady

Disturbed at the implications of all the cards and messages she receives on her sixtieth birtthday, Hetty Wainthropp declares to her husband Robert that she has no intention of fading quietly into the sunset and that from now on she is "going to count!" She gets a job at a post office, where her suspicions are aroused by a young couple who try to cash in an elderly lady's pension book; but before she can investigate, she's distracted when she spots a young shoplifter taking sweets and a charity collection tin. She chases and catches him, but he escapes.

The next day in the supermarket, the checkout clerk who serves Hetty proves to be the young shoplifter of the day before; she notes his details and tells him she'll inform the police the next day. He follows her home, and waits outside her house for hours; when she realises he's still there, she invites him in and discovers that he's left home and is living in a crummy bedsit, and his name is Geoffrey. Hetty enlists Geoffrey's help to follow the young couple who are collecting the elderly lady's pension, but when they get to the elderly lady's home they discover that she's dead. The inquest states that the death was accidental, but Hetty is not satisfied. She decides that she has a gift for detecting, and goes into business as the Wainthropp Detective Agency; she also picks Geoffrey as her devoted assistant, because of the positive effect the work has on him, and because "I've no-one else".

While Hetty and Geoffrey continue to investigate the death, they are hired to investigate a kidnapping, which not only turns out to be a false report but which leads to Hetty's life being endangered and Geoffrey having to come to her rescue. Hetty brings in the local police to investigate, only to be told that as she wasn't actually hurt, there's nothing they can do -- but Detective Chief Inspector Adams gives Hetty some hints on where to investigate next. The case leads Hetty to a cover-up involving arson, murder, a chemical plant and experiments gone wrong.


Episode Two - Eye Witness

Hetty is called in to investigate the disappearance of a young deaf-mute man, Malcolm, who disappeared while out bird-watching, the day he's supposed to meet his pen-pal wife-to-be from India. Malcolm, as it turns out, has witnessed a death and has been on the run because of fear of the perpetrator. In a twist to the case, Hetty and Geoffrey unknowingly enlist the assistance of the perpetrator in question, who does his best to thwart their investigation.


Episode Three - Fingers

On holiday in Italy, Hetty is hired to investigate the disappearance of a young Italian man who has disappeared while studying English in Britain. Geoffrey goes undercover in restaurant kitchens and uses his connections to investigate a grafitti artist whose work appears connected with the kidnapping, and Hetty goes undercover as a nougat company representative, but is deeply disturbed by the notion that she may have been responsible for a murder.


Episode Four - Widdershins

Robert's uncle has apparently committed suicide, but Robert refuses to believe he would do such a thing; he begs Hetty to investigate. Geoffrey turns up on the Wainthropps' doorstep (complete with battered teddy bear), claiming that he's been kicked out of his lodgings because the landlady made a pass at him, and is enlisted as house-sitter while the Wainthropps travel to Robert's uncle's village, Readsby.

While Robert is immersed in his dead uncle's past, Hetty investigates mysterious happenings in the village, suspecting that this once notorious haven for witches is now a hotbed of occult activity. Geoffrey, meanwhile, is shocked to find his mother on the Wainthropp's doorstep, begging him to return home; when a mourning Robert is dispatched home by Hetty, he discovers that Geoffrey left home because life with his mum is "too heavy" since his dad walked out. Robert manages to heal the rift between Geoffrey and his mother, finding some of his own consolation in the process.

Geoffrey is sent to assist Hetty with her investigation - which turns up activities which are neither occult nor murderous, but rather nasty. At the episode's conclusion, the formerly reluctant Robert is happy to make Geoff one of the family by installing him in the Wainthropp's spare room.


Episode Five - A Higher Profile

The Wainthropp Detective Agency is struggling, and Hetty and Geoff are forced to take drastic action to advertise their services publicly. The gimmick pays off and they are hired by a dentist's wife to investigate the disappearance of her schizophrenic son. Hetty and Geoff have to work out where the young man would have gone from fragments of letters and poetry, and head to the seaside to investigate; but they also have to contend with an indifferent public health care system and information being kept from them by their own client.


Episode Six - Safe as Houses

Hetty is hired by an old friend to investigate the disappearance of her foster daughter, Chrissie, who has a history of starting fires and whose disappearance has coincided with a series of firebombings of homes in the local area. The local police are offering a reward for the capture of the arsonist, prompting Hetty and Geoff to double their efforts; Geoffrey has to masquerade in a fluffy platinum wig, miniskirt and high heels, to confront and startle the perpetrator of the attacks. The season ends on a high as the Wainthropp Detective Agency collects a large reward cheque and Hetty gets to strut her stuff on stage in more ways than one.

on to season two -- back to the episode guide