Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators

You have to hand it to The BBC, Afternoon drama has improved ten fold, largely due to the impact of Father Brown, a few shows have tried, and been OK, such as The Coroner, but as they did with Father Brown, they've hit on a winner with Shakespeare and Hathaway. For my money it's better then many of the night time dramas, and arguably is worthy of a better viewing slot, but it really is good family fun.

As a nation we love a good mystery, we love a well drawn character, and a clever plot, we get all of those things here, along with a good dollop of humour, Mark Benton, Jo Joyner and Patrick Walshe McBride are all wonderful in their respective roles, all able to do humour and drama with ease.

Favourite episode to date for me has to be Ill Met by Moonlight, I am delighted to see a second series is currently transmitting, hopefully it will continue into the future just as Father Brown has.

Hugely entertaining. 9/10

Love this show. Wonderful actors and beautiful locations combined with humorous script and twisty plots makes it a joy to watch . Hope for more episodes

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!

Like others, I cannot understand why this is hidden away in the afternoon schedules, it would be ideal for a Sunday evening. Nothing world changing, but excellent performances and a gentle feel make it the kind of programme that will appeal to different generations. I look forward to more.

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.