Rosemary & Thyme

A few months back I caught this on a repeat and decided I liked it enough to buy the complete collection on DVD - and very glad I did! This series is an excellent light-hearted mystery show suitable for the majority of audiences. I have watched a good deal of crime and mystery television - and while many shows out there are more 'groundbreaking' than Rosemary and Thyme: it must be said that this show is excellent fun - it doesn't take itself seriously and the two main characters: Rosemary Boxer (Felicity Kendal) and Laura Thyme (Pam Ferris) are great fun to watch and make for an excellent team. It's a huge shame that ITV decided to cancel this series before series 4 began as this was an amazing show and I loved watching every minute of it.

This wonderful "who done it" British TV series lasted only three seasons and was canceled because of budget concerns. As it is, 22 episodes are available on DVD.

Basic plot has Rosemary Boxer (Felicity Kendal) who's been fired from her job as a university lecturer in plant pathology, and Laura Thyme (Pam Ferris) a housewife (and former police woman) dumped by her husband. The two meet by chance and form a fast friendship that leads them to start a business as gardeners. But they get more than they bargained for when they get involved in local politics, family squabbles, and (invariably) in murder.

The two women use their natural curiosity and knowledge of plants to help the cops solve the murders.

The show is notable for never showing the actual violence of murder and for having two women of a certain age who are not involved in relationships or with cutesy kiddies. Another big bonus is the gorgeous location filming at various estates around the UK and a few trips to the continent. The viewer can also pick up bits and pieces of garden lore and tips.

Kendal is of course a major TV star with hit series like THE GOOD NEIGHBORS and SOLO to her credit. Ferris also has a long list of TV credits. They work perfectly together. These women are smart, independent, and funny.

The series boasts a lot of familiar faces as guests like Anthony Andrews, Phyllida Law, Suzanne Bertish, Belinda Lang, Michael Cochrane, Mel Martin, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Margaret Tyzack, Tilly Blackwood, Julian Firth, Murray Head, Diana Hardcastle, Christopher Bowen, and Neil McDermott.

Terrific!

I love this show. This is my Sunday night tradition, Watching Rosemary and Thyme. I have seen them all and a few times over. I had been waiting patiently for a new season only to find out the show had been canceled by an English company. If there is any way to get them to listen, please do. The 2 actresses playing Rosemany and Laura are wonderful. So believable, and fun to watch. The stories are wonderful also. I am an Agatha Christie fan, and these stories are as good. I am devastated, please make some more episodes. I love the gardens, the stories, and the actresses. There are so few good mystery series on TV now. Especially one, like this show, where you can tell care has been taken to have beautiful scenery, likable characters, interesting plot lines, and not a lot of gratuitous violence. I love it.

...and it has real women in it, Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris, two dynamite actresses.

Rosemary & Thyme is about two women, Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme who are in the gardening business together. Everywhere they go to work, they become involved in a murder mystery.

In order to enjoy the show, you have to accept two conceits. The first is, both these women are incredibly nosy. They come into a situation to fix, put in, or expand a garden and before you know it, they're sneaking around roofs and attics and asking outrageous questions.

The second conceit is that the solutions are sometimes really out there and you wonder how they ever figured them out. Hidden messages on trees, that sort of thing. Wild.

Nevertheless, I like it. Sorry to hear it was canceled.

My best friend and I enjoyed every moment of watching Rosemary and Thyme. Before our marriages we traveled together and had many adventures. Laura and Rosemary reminded us of those adventures and now at 80 years of age and without spouses we would love to have a gardening business together and become Rosemary and Thyme! We can live vicariously through them! The photography was fantastic of the gardens in England and European countries. The acting of Pam Kendall and Felicity Ferres was excellent, they were a perfect combination. They had a refreshing relationship of getting along as friends, coworkers and the comradeship of "sisters" as my friend and I, yet with some disagreements and a touch of romance on some of their escapades, showing they were not too old or too busy for romance. A fresh and very entertaining Series. Please continue the Series with the same actresses. Anyone who does not like the Series may watch the more violent and gory reality type Murder Mysteries.