Agatha Raisin

Stumbled across this show on Acorn TV and I'm happy I did. It's delightful. It's fun. I like the settings, the characters and the actors. However, I am totally unfamiliar with the original books. That being said, I don't think it much matters. I was a fan of the TV show "Bones" for a number of seasons before I picked up one of Kathy Reichs' novels. I admit it was a bit jarring at first. The books and the TV show have really only two things in common; the name of the main character and her profession. I stopped trying to compare the two and enjoy both as stand-alone entities. If I read the Agatha Raisin books, I shall keep it in mind to apply the same rule--after reading some of these reviews. In the mean time, I loved this show and am looking forward to a second season.

It took a while for this show to grow on me. Agatha's 'girly' facet didn't register at first, now I think it's a hoot. She's a really interesting character, and wonderfully played. *All* the actors are excellent. Her best friend Gemma is subtly divine. The two policemen each in their own way are wonderful. I've come to love the show, and really hope they will keep it going. We needed something to fill the gap of clever and engaging 'murder and tea.' No ugliness, shouting, acrimony, etc. Of course, the setting is gorgeous. Agatha has given up the bustle of the city and moved to the Cotswolds. So you get some of those 'quirky village characters' that Midsomer Murders excelled at. If you're a fan of Miss Marple and Poirot shows, or Miss Fisher's murder mysteries, you should really give this a try.

The last episode of S2, I had a hard time watching. Face up after 2 times. Watching S3E1 and not 10 min in and I'm annoyed. I love the cast and am really disappointed by the shift into silliness. While it works, kind of, it's like it swallowed a huge bucket of silliness instead of just a cup. Like baking, ratios matter. I'll watch but in the background. Tolerable but not my fav show anymore.

I've been reading the books since the 90's and have enjoyed them quite a bit. While not great literature, they are an entertaining, light read. You'll have to excuse some very glaring continuity issues - hello, what are editors for? - but still a lot of fun.

The TV series is the same - entertaining, light fun. I know many are disparaging the TV series as not being enough like the books, but I don't agree. I don't think it matters if the characters are exactly like the books. In a book, you can spend very little space getting into a character's thoughts and motivations, something really quite hard and often boring to do in film. Updating from the 90"s to now means that quite a bit has to change including how Agatha would operate in PR and the world at large. Like the Hamish MacBeth TV show (which is fabulous, by the way) I think the writers for this series took the fun and the spirit of the books, without some of the nastiness or unbelievable plot devices, and have created something entertaining.

This Agatha Raisin is a character for "now" not the 90's and is well-written and acted. I'd really like to see another series.

Series 3 has lost the plot. Everyone overacts, especially Ashley Jensen. In series 3 her character is annoying, angry and mouthy. She trips and falls everywhere and it's not remotely humorous, just annoying. Series 1 and 2 are better and Fairies of Fryfam is my favourite episode. If there is a series 4 I hope they all tone down the silliness.