Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators

The development of the characters is surface, stories are a 'bit of fun' without a deep 'who done it'. I enjoy a mindless waltz through their cases. The hired help is the one that caries joy - strong acting, and a delight to see what he gets up to.

A cosy detective series with a two unlikely partners (in the beginning) that gets under your skin to the extent that you may well end up by wanting more and more episodes. If it manages to keep the chemistry, and to continue having coherent scripts and a consistent plot, it may well keep on going for many seasons, like Death in Paradise. Charming setting - Stratford upon Avon - clothing and landscapes that please the eye and soothe the soul. The main characters are round (what, there is nothing wrong with that), pleasant and funny. Jo Joyner makes the role of her life so far, as Louella. It is a joyful series (pun intended), hope it will go on like this.

My wife and I love Shakespeare and Hathaway. We are American viewers .We have only just found out that this wonderful program is shown on daytime telly in Britain. And also the great show Moving On is shown in the afternoon there. Speaks volumes of the quality of television in the UK. There are few programs here in prime time as good. I digress. What is so special about this show then? The 3 lead actors. They have great chemistry together. Lu Shakespeare is one of the private investigators. She drives a little red Mini that her partner Frank Hathaway calls a hair dryer on wheels. Lu has a bubbly personality, always happy and smiling. She is the sweetest most feminine cop or detective character I've ever seen. Frank is the lovable portly male detective. Invaluable to the show is their assistant, Sebastian who is a trained actor that Frank and Lu use his acting abilities to go undercover to find information. His disguises and role plays are hilarious. The murder plots are secondary to the playful banter between Lu, Frank, and Sebastian. Another thing I like is neither Frank and Lu are portrayed as sleuth geniuses. Sometimes Frank solves it, sometimes Lu does and they sometimes stumble onto it. Also the show is set in Stratford Upon Avon and Shakespeare buffs would appreciate the lines from the Bard that are often quoted. The scenery is gorgeous. We have just finished the third series. The first two series were a tad better than the third. However the biggest flaw of the first 2 series was Inspector Christina Marlowe, the glum unsmiling nemesis of Frank and Lu. I groaned when she appeared, a dreadful character played by a wooden actress. Thankfully they got rid of her after Series 2. Series 3 was mostly good, and the writers seemed to be going more for comedy. Some of the slapstick from Frank was a bit cringe worthy. A couple shows from Series 3 were tedious. Now we are awaiting Series 4. I would like to see from Series 4 more scenes with Inspector Joe, the Frank hating full of himself cop. He is hilarious in his over the top arrogance. A new character from Series 3 is PC Viola. She seems to fancy Sebastian a bit and would love to see some interaction between those two. And she's drop dead gorgeous!

Just watched the first episode of this new Comedy Drama and I can't wait for more. It is light, bright and funny without all the usual cliches. The storyline was not at all predictable and the plot keenly written. 10 out of 10 for all involved in the production of Shakespeare and Hathaway - more please.

Loved it - watched first two episodes back to back funny, decent plots pleased to see Mr Benton back but Well done BBC Patrick Walshe McBride - only one word BRILLIANT!