Frank Hathaway & Luella Shakespeare

Created by Paul Matthew Thompson & Jude Tindall

In the cuter-than-thou sweepstakes, the 2018 UK comedy/drama Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators is surely a contender.

It's not enough that former Detective Inspector turned private eye FRANK HATHAWAY shares the family name of the Bard's wife and works in Stratford-upon-Avon. That alone would race at least a few skeptical eyebrows. But then he goes and partner's up with ex-hairdresser LUELLA SHAKESPEARE.

And then, in case anybody misses all this wink-wink nomenclature, Frank's only other employee, Sebastian Brudenell, is a struggling actor who trained with the Royal Acedemy of Dramatic Arts, and Frank's former partner on the police force is Detective Inspector Christina Marlowe.

How they missed having a cute puppy hanging around the office called "Francis Bacon" is beyond me.

Still, the show has it's moments, particularly for fans of the BBC/PBS BritCrime Industrial Complex. Frank is prickly, cynical and slightly over-the-hill, in a rumpled "needs someone to look after him" way, while Luella is younger (but not too much younger) and vivacious. There are a lot of fawning shots of Stratford-upon-Avon, and plenty of local oddball suspects to sort through in every case, à la Midsomer Murders and the like, but if you're looking for hard-boiled grit, UK style, this ain't it.

TELEVISION

• SHAKESPEARE AND HATHAWAY: PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS.. Watch it now!
  (2018, BBC One)
  10 44-minute episodes
  Premiere: February 26, 2018
  Created by Paul Matthew Thompson & Jude Tindall
  Directed by Allen Baron and Robert Day
  Produced by Ella Kelly
  Executive producer: Will Trotter
  Starring Mark Benton as FRANK HATHAWAY
  Jo Joyner as LUELLA SHAKESPEARE
  and Patrick Walshe McBride as Sebastian Brudenell
  Also starring Amber Aga as Detective Inspector Christina Marlowe
  Tomos Eames as Detective Sergeant Keeler
  and Roberta Taylor as Gloria Fonteyn
  Guest stars:
  

• Season One
• "O Brave New World" (February 26, 2018)
• "The Chimes at Midnight" (February 27, 2018)
• "This Promised End" (February 28, 2018)
• "This Rough Magic" (March 1, 2018)
• "Toil and Trouble" (March 2, 2018)
• "Exit, Pursued By a Bear" (March 5, 2018)
• "The Fairest Show Means Most Deceit" (March 6, 2018)
• "The Chameleon's Dish" (March 7, 2018)
• "The Rascal Cook" (March 8, 2018)
• "Ill Met By Moonlight" (March 9, 2018)

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith, with a tip of the fedora to Film/Television editor Chris Baldemor.

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