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

Something to relax with during these trying and boring times. Thankfully not the usual middle eastern terrorists, or gory filled murders.

Kudos to the main 3 characters, nice chemistry, except for the Sargent keeler character needs a rewrite or replaced... very annoying character .... even the most annoying, selfish person might recognize that he is being helped .... so rewrite his storyline storyline.pleeeease.

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.

Yes I know the title is a cliche, but then it is brimming full of quotes from the Bard himself, and it is quite fun trying to spot them all, I am sure we missed a few. If you like a harmless sex and violence free drama, this is a perfect escape. The stories are a little cliche'd and quite a lot of poetic licence is taken, but if you just sit back and watch, you are in for a treat. Yes the police are awful, even by daytime TV standards, but overall the acting is fine and the writing is just what it needs to be. It is not a 9pm programme, doesn't pretend to be, but is equally as enjoyable as Death in Paradise, Father Brown or Midsummer. More please.

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.