Missing Persons

This TV movie starring Patricia Routledge was meant to be the pilot for a TV series. She stars as Hetty Wainthropp, a grandmother living in Halifax, UK, who accidentally turns private detective when her childhood best friend's husband wants to find the son he abandoned 50 years before.

She launches an investigation but then learns that her friend, who is not the mother of the child, is very disturbed by this turn of events, so Hetty tries to scotch the father and son reuning. But when the son turns up on her doorstep, he hires her to his HIS 16-year-old son who has run off to London. This is how she meets Geoffrey, her eventual sidekick.

There's one other investigation that involves Hetty and Geoffrey in tracking down a runaway girl with a fondness for snakes. Besides Geoffrey, Hetty also befriends a pushy and street-wise man named Chalky and an eccentric shut-in named Phillida Meadowhite.

The movie swings from drama to comedy and even recounts Hetty's youth as an entertainer or sorts. Like the series, which didn't start until 1996, after Yorkshire Television (YTV) passed on the series, this Hetty is also pretty much free of violence.

After YTK passed on Hetty, Routledge starred in a comedy series for BBC called KEEPING UP APPEARANCES as Hyacinth Bucket. The show ran for 5 years and made Routledge a household name in the UK. When that show ended, she immediately started HETTY WAINTHROPP INVESTIGATES for the BBC and had another hit TV show (which ran for 4 seasons).

MISSING PERSONS presents a slightly daffier Hetty, but Routledge is terrific. The film also boasts a great performance by Jean Heywood as Edith, Jimmy Jewel as her husband Frank, and Jean Kent as the eccentric Phillida. There's also Gary Halliday as Geoffrey, Tony Melody as husband Robert, Gary Waldhorn as the long-lost son, and Ram John Holder as Chalky.

The movie is set in the small city of Halifax.

This TV movie was made as the pilot for a "Hetty Wainthropp" series, but six years elapsed before the series was made, and the pilot was never broadcast in the US. Although Patricia Routledge was brought back to play the title role, the series is markedly different from the pilot. Here the character of Hetty is edgier, and her social milieu is seedier - think Daisy and Onslow, rather than Hyacinth and Richard. The narrative style is more elliptical, and the actual "detection" often takes a back seat to other themes, especially toward the end. But for just that reason, it's worth seeing if you're a fan of the series. It's Hetty Wainthropp as she might exist in a parallel universe.

Hetty Wainthropp starts in the private detective business by tracking down the son abandoned fifty years previously by the husband of her lifelong friend, Edith. Frank Cross isn't sure he wants his son found but find him Hetty does. Then the son, Bernard, asks Hetty to find his runaway 16 year old son, Geoffrey. Due to an implausible coincidence, she does find him. But a major focus is on Frank and Edith Cross who lead unnecessarily impoverished and exceedingly dreary lives but evidently the Crosses are satisfied. Bernard's appearance on the scene somewhat upsets the apple cart in the Cross household but then things take a dramatic turn. The last part of the movie is both sad and pathetic. Rutledge shines in the role of Hetty with her no nonsense manner and easy affability with a variety of people. One thing's for sure - everyone should be as lucky as Edith in having a friend such as Hetty. A highlight of the movie is seeing Jean Kent as the elderly and delightful former actress, Phillida Meadowhite. I'm a big fan of the Hetty Wainthropp series and I'm glad they decided to replace the dour Robert as her husband and the bland Geoffrey as her young assistant in the television series. And that they lightened up the series. Good moves, all.

Others have reviewed the storyline and cast, I'd like to mention that I found this pilot for the eventual series on YouTube, of all places. I expected classic Patricia Routledge comedy but I think this pilot should have a warning label on it "NOT WHAT YOU THINK".

Many elements combine to make this film. Setting is strong, such as the seaside town of Brighton, a National Express bus across England, a garden allotment, an off-track betting shop, and many more. The film moves between scenes quickly and never looks back, but there is magic here.

It is set in (I think) 1980s England, which was a far cry from the upscale, prosperous England of today. It nicely portrays the humble day to day like to Edith, a housewife who sows her husband's betting proceeds into the stuffing for couch pillows.

Edith is the central character here. She looks at her wedding picture and says she was upstaged as a bride. Her lack of self-esteem and dedication to her husband are at the center of this film.

Parts of the film are hilariously funny, many parts are heartbreaking. The ending is a tour de force interchange between two brilliant British actresses. It is very moving.

I think that "Missing Persons" is an apt title. Indeed, Edith herself was missing from her own life. I will say that the black and white flashback scenes are confusing. Only at the end did I come to understand that they portrayed Edith, not her husband's first wife. I think they need more explanation--the characters are unrecognizable and it's hard to know what is gong on.

I would watch this pilot again, gladly, but I would not include it in a discussion with the later BBC series. They should be kept separate, but the pilot "Missing Persons" should not be ignored or undervalued. Just don't expect a constant stream of Rutledge humor. She's a superb actress and this pilot gives her a script where she can do both physical comedy and pure drama.

Highly recommended. Highly memorable. Here's to all the Ediths of the world, emerging from their shells at just the right time.

Thank you to whoever wrote and produced and directed and lit the scenes in the cramped apartment. Well done.

(Eight stars, not ten, because of the confusion over the flashbacks. I thought they were distracting. Perhaps one would have been enough, with the characters identified.)

For the type of movie it is near perfect. I haven't seen the series or read the book. I expect since this screenwriter wrote the original novel it is true to his vision perhaps more than the series. He did not apparently write for the series which I gather is a lot less edgy.

This is a very dark, insightful comedy relentlessly portraying both the human character without the white-wash job we usually see in fictional characters and the human condition without any imaginary sugar frosting. Outside of Hetty you might find the characters unlikable because they don't have imaginary positive characteristics rarely found in nature. But what's the point of only caring about people that meet our fantasy standards? Why don't we care about people portrayed realistically, people like our neighbors and relatives and work-mates? The film focuses on the lower middle class, not people you would call successful or failures, which is a good choice for the film. These people are not suffering for material needs but they also cannot conceal themselves in luxury.

While the movie for the most part portrays common life events it is so funny and dark that at times I found myself simultaneously horrified and laughing and horrified that I was laughing. The writer proved by the end of the film that he was not laughing heartlessly at these people but ruthlessly drawing our attention to their foibles and limitations. The humor and pathos blended seamlessly like the warp and woof of a carpet.

The film was genuinely and cleverly humorous with more than the usual load of funny lines. All the performances were terrific managing to capture the pathos of the characters while keeping it a comedy.

The direction / editing kept up the pace and knew when to slow down and when to skip over. Each of the many characters had their own space in the film.

Often times a good film for me falls down in the ending. Not so in this case. For me it was exceptionally successful. The strong ending was where the film was headed all along and summed up and completed it.

The main unrealistic element is Hatty's adventures. Her detective forays form the backbone of the plot and, as in many detective films, provide a way to dig through a coal seam of characters and life situations. Because it's a comedy we don't mind so much some of the unrealistic events commonly used as plot devices.

Hatty is a remarkable yet believable woman worth getting to know. The film serves up brilliantly fun humor, striking character portrayals, and strong human feelings. Thanks to masterful work by all the film makers.