Pie in the Sky

One of those yearnings for simpler, happier times led me to reflect on life in the nineties and seeing this a few times lately on ITV3 only helped to foster sentimental memories of a less complex age.

It may only be lightweight, but that's its beauty and delight. Richard Griffiths is excellent and was made for his role as the wise, phlegmatic and unconventional inspector. His portly frame hardly lends itself to much frenetic activity, but his facial expressions are a joy and all you need.

A good mix of stories, not always featuring murder, and the slice of restaurant life is a warm counter to the police activity. Plenty of understated humour from a cast of colourful characters.

In 1995 I thought that the century was ending at a pretty fast and bewildering pace, with technology and media beginning to impose itself in almost every walk of life. But watching "Pie" and remembering it all as if it were only yesterday makes me think that maybe life wasn't so fast after all. Fifteen years on and what I find so curious now is that it was made just before the world went nuts with mobile phones and The Internet. It's a show that has dated well in terms of story, but to never see anybody use a mobile phone and scant mention of computers seems strange and rather sweet.

All in all, a really good example of BBC light drama at its best, when the Corporation considered subtlety and intelligence as important as glamour and ratings.

here in new england we depend on PBS or BBC America for good English programming. I stumbled on this show last year. It is a light detective show with good character portrayals. Griffiths is great. They only seem to run the same 10 episodes over and over, i see there are 33 episodes. Might have to buy the DVD. It would be worth it.

I wonder why it didn't go more seasons. Was it not well received? Some shows are better than others, some a little fluffy, others delve more into his detectives ability to see through mysteries at his waddling slow pace. I know Richard Griffiths has done other work, I first saw him in naked gun. But i believe some of his best screen work is here.

As a teenager I didn't appreciate Pie In The Sky when it first aired in the mid 90's. However, it's being re-run in an early evening slot on ITV3 at the moment & it's well worth watching again. As mentioned in other comments, the plots often follow a similar path in each episode & Henry almost invariably solves the crime or saves the day single handedly. This is only a very minor flaw though. The scripts & dialogue are great & the excellent cast really bring it all to life. Richard Griffiths is a brilliant character actor & Henry Crabbe is played with an understated charm that most actors would not be able to carry off. This charm & subtlety is carried throughout the whole series & I haven't seen a single bad episode yet. It's also worth mentioning the sheer number of characters in the series. Many of the restaurant staff & Police officers appear regularly from episode to episode but the writers have put real effort into giving them all distinct personalities. I never get the feeling that they are just cardboard cut-outs put there just to advance the plot. Pie In The Sky is very enjoyable light viewing with more than enough substance to keep me interested for the whole 40 episodes.

Nice blend of cops and robbers and cookery, great cast and varied characters each fleshed out individually. A good chemistry between the two leading players, and the others dovetail together well. Stories are light but well drawn fitting neatly into an ideal time slot for me. I found it easy to slip into getting involved with the character dynamics.

I even found a good cookery tip regarding the perfect shepherd's pie, put a layer of mash on the bottom of the casserole dish, to soak up the meat juices.

Cooking programs are an anathema to me, but I found it very easy to be interested when it was an integral part of the plot.

Photography its wrongly said doesn't lie, well to say least it fibs, food photography is a case in point. A good photo of a meal can have us salivating, but you wouldn't want to eat the food, as it would prove totally indigestible. The tricks of the trade of the food photographer, are fairly ingenious.

Why is this lengthy aside relavent? Because this program is replete with my kind of grub, especially the chefs signature dish steak and kidney pie. I am really a pie a'holic, a crucial element being the pastry, this can make or break a great pie. I get great pleasure over the food its ingredients, preparation, and presentation. Something I can never say about any food program I'm never likely to watch.

But back to my point about food photography, the way it appears on the box makes it enticing. But would you actually be able to eat that food? Is it even real food?

I really don't have any quibbles about this series. Until recently I could only access the first couple of series in New Zealand but have just finished a marathon of Pie in the Sky and have become totally hooked. Apparently not wanting terror, blood and guts in a detective series means that it is lightweight, if that is so, then so be it. However the story lines are decidedly chewy and the characters have substance. I did miss Cambridge when she disappeared - her clothes were stunning - and I was disappointed that Nicola didn't last the full term, but the rest of the cast/team were splendid and reacted beautifully to one another. Fisher is a complete prat, and it is a well written and well acted character that makes one want to smack him soundly on the nose. As for Richard Griffiths and Maggie Steed, no praise is high enough. It's a great watch and worth anybody's time and brain power - without getting an ulcer through stress at the same time.