Originally broadcast on television during the 1996 season.

These six episodes from the first series include two not shown on PBS.

Director of photography, Ian Punter ; music, Nigel Hess ; costume designer, Laura Ergis.

Patricia Routledge, Dominic Monaghan, Derek Benfield.

Hetty is a 60-year-old housewife, a late bloomer, who sets up shop as a private eye to supplement her husband's meager pension. With moral authority, salt-of-the-earth candor, and a fully-loaded handbag, Hetty dispenses hard-boiled justice and motherly empathy in equally satisfying doses. Geoffrey, a destitute teenager, becomes Hetty's trusted and able sidekick. Her husband, Robert, also lends a hand.

The bearded lady: Hetty turns 60 but refuses to become a senior citizen who joins clubs. And how will she and Robert make ends meet now that he's retired? She gets a job at the post office, where she grows suspicious about a young couple cashing pension checks. Following her instincts and enlisting the help of a 17 year old boy she catches shoplifting, Hetty learns that she has a natural gift for sleuthing.

Eye witness: The parents of a deaf-mute who has disappeared while out bird-watching call on Hetty to investigate. Their son disappeared on the day he was to meet his mail-order Thai bride, and it turns out he's on the run from a murderer.

Fingers: On holiday in Italy, Hetty is hired by the owners of an inn who have received horrifying ransom notes for their son, whom they fear has fallen in with the Mafia. The son was in Manchester to study English, but Hetty and Geoffrey discover he was a poor student and possibly deeply in debt.

Widdershins: Hetty and Robert travel to Readsby, where Robert's revered elderly uncle, a former professional soccer player, has apparently committed suicide. But Hetty doesn't believe it and begins to suspect the involvement of the villagers of Readsby, once a notorious haven for witches.

A high profile: A mother concerned for the welfare of her schizophrenic son, Michael, hires Hetty to find him. Frustrated when her search runs dry, Hetty determines she must forget logic and try to get into Michael's disordered mind.

Safe as houses: An old friend of Hetty's needs help locating her troubled foster daughter, Chrissie. A teenage mother, Chrissie has disappeared just as a series of arson attacks on local homes begins and Chrissie has a history of setting fires. Hetty and Geoffrey get a break in their investigation when an entry in a local photo competition reveals more than it intended.

Not rated.

DVD.

Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.