Agatha Raisin - General Discussion

[krankydoodle]

This is a British comedy-drama series based on the books by MC Beaton and starring Ashley Jensen. I just watched the 2nd season on Acorn and have read that it's been renewed for a 3rd season with movie-length episodes again rather than the 45-minute episodes of the 1st season, which I thought worked better.

It's not a great show, but it can be fun and the setting is lovely. I sometimes find Agatha irritating, but Ashley Jensen's charm makes up for a lot.

I haven't read the books, but I got the impression that Agatha and James are meant to be the end goal in terms of a romantic pairing so I thought it was interesting that he's hardly in the second season. Instead, Agatha spends a lot of time with Charles and I preferred watching the two of them together.

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

I just watched the 2nd season on Acorn and have read that it's been renewed for a 3rd season with movie-length episodes again rather than the 45-minute episodes of the 1st season, which I thought worked better.

Oh it has been?  I hope so. I love this show.  I especially liked the movies.  They make me happy. (I just found the info. I'm surprised they didn't mention it on their Twitter.)

2 hours ago, krankydoodle said:

Instead, Agatha spends a lot of time with Charles and I preferred watching the two of them together.

Me too.

I read some book descriptions recently and it does look like

Spoiler

Charles is the longer term love interest. But they've also changed things too so who knows.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Irlandesa

[krankydoodle]

I hope your spoiler is true! It seemed to me that they let the relationship between Agatha and Charles develop nicely over the 2nd season, then hastily remembered how hard they pushed her with James in the 1st season, so forced him and Agatha together in the last episode.

I wonder if they ran into budget or scheduling issues in the 2nd season since characters dropped in and out. I was finding Gemma a bit tiring since she's around all the time, so was glad we got a break from her in the last episode. I'm glad Matthew Horne's Roy looks to be back next season. And I like Sarah, but she doesn't get much to do; she's just kind of there.

[LisaM]

So glad there is a topic for Agatha Raisin! I've watched the entire series on Acorn with only the last episode to go. 

Definitely noticed a major thinning of the cast as the series progressed. I crack up every time that the bumbling detective is on screen. 

Fun show - not great but definitely fun. 

I hope that they decide to make more. 

[krankydoodle]

On 3/10/2019 at 2:33 PM, LisaM said:

So glad there is a topic for Agatha Raisin! I've watched the entire series on Acorn with only the last episode to go. 

I wish I had paced myself instead of watching them more or less in one go. I rewatched some of the new season and the movie-length episodes have grown on me.

[Grundoon59]

As a fan of both the books and the show, I am glad to have found this forum.  

The show differs quite a bit from the books - similar to how the same author's Hamish McBeth books are different from the series.  I recommend both although warn of the differences.  

So glad to hear of series 3.

[krankydoodle]

I'm looking forward to more episodes, but I hope we don't get any more storylines where some eligible bachelor moves into town and every woman in the area tries to beat the others to his door.  

[LisaM]

Finally finished the last episode. So glad to read that Acorn TV is producing 4 more episodes. I did miss Gemma in this episode. The Detective Inspector continues to crack me up. We never did find out if he won the election.

[YupItsMe]

I love the books and am enjoying the show, but the lovely actress that plays Agatha looks nothing like the Agatha of my imagination. 🙂

[roseha]

I just started watching this show while I was on vacation in Ireland on a channel called Pick.  I do enjoy it overall though the first show I watched, The Wellspring of Death, seemed to me to be the most obvious telegraphing of whodunit that I can ever remember seeing.  but I kept watching for the cast and the charm.  I do feel that as the show goes on the chemistry becomes more enjoyable among the regulars, especially for instance in The Witch of Wyckhaddon where Agatha is joined by James, Gemma, Bill and Roy to sort out the spooky goings on.  I enjoy Bill and the actor who plays him a lot, though I wonder if they will ever match him up with Gemma for good, maybe when the show ends.

Can anyone explain why Sarah is a regular in Season 2?  Nothing against the actress or character per se, but isn't she the minister's wife?  And why haven't they shown her husband?  Did I miss something? It's hard for me to follow some of the accents sometimes.

Anyway, it's fun TV for mainly light viewing, and I am glad they are making a Season 3.

[LisaM]

On 7/2/2019 at 11:47 PM, roseha said:

I just started watching this show while I was on vacation in Ireland on a channel called Pick.  I do enjoy it overall though the first show I watched, The Wellspring of Death, seemed to me to be the most obvious telegraphing of whodunit that I can ever remember seeing.  but I kept watching for the cast and the charm.  I do feel that as the show goes on the chemistry becomes more enjoyable among the regulars, especially for instance in The Witch of Wyckhaddon where Agatha is joined by James, Gemma, Bill and Roy to sort out the spooky goings on.  I enjoy Bill and the actor who plays him a lot, though I wonder if they will ever match him up with Gemma for good, maybe when the show ends.

Can anyone explain why Sarah is a regular in Season 2?  Nothing against the actress or character per se, but isn't she the minister's wife?  And why haven't they shown her husband?  Did I miss something? It's hard for me to follow some of the accents sometimes.

Anyway, it's fun TV for mainly light viewing, and I am glad they are making a Season 3.

Regarding Sarah: it appears that they made a conscious decision to pare down the supporting cast and only feature the same main players in each episode. They included Sarah to the mix and dropped not only her husband, the Vicar, but all of the other faces that we frequently saw in passing. Perhaps it was a financial decision? 

I turn on the closed captioning for this show sometimes because I miss the dialogue due to the accents. It helps! 

My favorite character is Bill's partner, the bumbling lead detective. He is terrific! 

[roseha]

On 7/8/2019 at 7:59 AM, LisaM said:

Regarding Sarah: it appears that they made a conscious decision to pare down the supporting cast and only feature the same main players in each episode. They included Sarah to the mix and dropped not only her husband, the Vicar, but all of the other faces that we frequently saw in passing. Perhaps it was a financial decision? 

I turn on the closed captioning for this show sometimes because I miss the dialogue due to the accents. It helps! 

My favorite character is Bill's partner, the bumbling lead detective. He is terrific! 

Thanks @LisaM, oddly they mentioned the Vicar being away in Africa in the last episode but not previously I don’t think?  Odd.

Acorn TV has a feature where they interview the cast and they are charming. 

[lightninggirl]

On 7/8/2019 at 7:59 AM, LisaM said:

Regarding Sarah: it appears that they made a conscious decision to pare down the supporting cast and only feature the same main players in each episode. They included Sarah to the mix and dropped not only her husband, the Vicar, but all of the other faces that we frequently saw in passing. Perhaps it was a financial decision? 

My favorite character is Bill's partner, the bumbling lead detective. He is terrific! 

I've never been a fan of Sarah; she's alternately bitchy and boring to me. She just seemed like a convenient "helper" and needed something to do when her husband went off on a mission trip (or four) on another continent - and when Roy and Gemma were not available. Yaaaawwwwwnnnnnnnn.

DCI Wilkes is AWESOME. My two favorite scenes were in S1E1 "The Walkers of Dembley" where everyone was stuffed in the kid's little plastic house at the garden centre. And who can forget his dance floor performance to "Word Up!" in S1E5 "The Vicious Vet"? 

[LisaM]

The new Agatha Raisin movie debuts on Monday on Acorn. 

[dleighg]

6 hours ago, LisaM said:

The new Agatha Raisin movie

I had never read the books-- so I picked up the first. I knew going in that a book written in 1992 would have a lot of differences-- and it does. Certainly the treatment of Roy is rather different (though I was surprised that he *was* gay in the 90s, it's just that the word wasn't used.) And Bill was a "tubby Oriental." LOL.  Her housekeeper was a little old lady, not a single mum. And Agatha herself, while described as a stylish dresser, was not particularly beautiful herself. Well, TV must, I suppose. Only Vera (and Vivian on "No Offence," I will admit) is allowed to be "stout."

[LisaM]

7 hours ago, dleighg said:

I had never read the books-- so I picked up the first. I knew going in that a book written in 1992 would have a lot of differences-- and it does. Certainly the treatment of Roy is rather different (though I was surprised that he *was* gay in the 90s, it's just that the word wasn't used.) And Bill was a "tubby Oriental." LOL.  Her housekeeper was a little old lady, not a single mum. And Agatha herself, while described as a stylish dresser, was not particularly beautiful herself. Well, TV must, I suppose. Only Vera (and Vivian on "No Offence," I will admit) is allowed to be "stout."

Vera and Viv - my two favorite characters on British TV. 

[CalicoKitty]

On 4/16/2019 at 10:25 PM, YupItsMe said:

I love the books and am enjoying the show, but the lovely actress that plays Agatha looks nothing like the Agatha of my imagination. 🙂

The actress looks nothing like Agatha's description in the books.  I must say I much prefer the books and am finding very little similarity between them and the TV episodes.  Same names but very, very different characters.

[dleighg]

the latest episode was not up to previous ones IMHO. Rather silly. And particularly the ending? 

Spoiler

So a dead tree has been standing there for some 400 years? Right.

[Door County Cherry]

Official Mod Note:  Don't put spoiler tags on something that has already aired.  

Actual viewer opinion unrelated to "mod" duties:

I enjoyed the fact so much that it was back that it was hard for me to judge.  I had fun with it except there was too much James.  I enjoyed the last season when he was MIA for most of it.  As a result, there was very little Charles and Roy was underused.  

I don't know why they just didn't recast Gemma if they're going to have her cousin basically slip right into her role, including a flirtation with Bill. 

[LisaM]

Does anyone know why Katy Wix wasn't in this episode? Is she gone for good? (I have yet to watch it.)

[BookWitch]

I'm not sure if the episode was filmed recently or right after Season 2. Is there any way to tell? Katy Wix had moved on to that Series Ghosts which was picked up for a second season. I hope they bring her back.

[roseha]

On 10/29/2019 at 9:50 PM, Door County Cherry said:

I enjoyed the fact so much that it was back that it was hard for me to judge.  I had fun with it except there was too much James.  I enjoyed the last season when he was MIA for most of it.  As a result, there was very little Charles and Roy was underused.  

I think I had similar feelings.  I was really glad to watch the show again but the first 10 or 15 minutes seemed to drag.  The problem seems to be that James just isn't a very interesting character, and it seemed that the writers had to stretch the story just to find a reason to keep Charlie in it (though I was glad when he suddenly showed up, I hadn't remembered the actor's name so didn't realize he would be in it).  I miss Gemma also, though I liked Toni and also the way it was casually introduced that she has a photographic memory.

I could see why Bill would be annoyed at Agatha keeping him out of the loop (until they were all in danger of course).  It's kind of a tradition on detective shows I guess to make the cops look helpless but Bill and Wilkes are enjoyable characters unlike some police on these shows.  James beaning the baddie with Agatha's precious award was a funny highlight though.

Actually while I understand the desire to do a haunted house story with the first episode coming on Halloween week, the story paled in comparison with my favorite episode, the Witch of Wyckhadden, where Agatha comes across a spooky castle thinking it's a spa, and the guest cast is full of wacky characters.

[krankydoodle]

I was hoping they'd release more episodes soon after the Halloween one, which I found disappointing. Maybe it felt a little flat because Agatha pretty much has everything she wants. I also agree with other comments here that James is a bit of a drag.

[Door County Cherry]

13 minutes ago, krankydoodle said:

I was hoping they'd release more episodes soon after the Halloween one, which I found disappointing. Maybe it felt a little flat because Agatha pretty much has everything she wants. I also agree with other comments here that James is a bit of a drag.

I'm guessing they'll do like last year and release them end of Dec/early Jan.

But it feels very empty without Brokenwood. 

[krankydoodle]

Oh, well. In the meantime, I've been enjoying the BBC radio adaptation of The Curious Curate.

[dleighg]

according to this rather muddled article, the rest of season 3 is coming in February 2020

https://www.tvshowsace.com/2019/12/09/agatha-raisin-season-3-acorn-tv-dates-for-remaining-episodes/

[LisaM]

I finally watched the Halloween movie and didn't love it as much as some of the earlier episodes. It seemed to be a bit too long. Also - Agatha bothered me with all of the screaming in the "haunted house". Was she always this much of a shrinking violet? 

I did appreciate how Sarah finally mentioned her missing husband (at the end while hoping for some of the treasure). Toni was an interesting addition to the team - with an actual skill! 

Not enough Wilkes bumbling around. 

[ichbin]

Just read that Marion Chesney (M C Beaton), author of the Agatha Raisin series of books,  died this week.  

I've read all the books in the series except the last one which I am have on a wait list at my library.  The books have changed from the beginning and I have strongly suspected there might have been more than one person responsible for the writing in some of the more recent releases.  It will be interesting to see if the series will now end or continue with a new writer.

[roseha]

8 hours ago, ichbin said:

Just read that Marion Chesney (M C Beaton), author of the Agatha Raisin series of books,  died this week.  

I've read all the books in the series except the last one which I am have on a wait list at my library.  The books have changed from the beginning and I have strongly suspected there might have been more than one person responsible for the writing in some of the more recent releases.  It will be interesting to see if the series will now end or continue with a new writer.

That's such a shame.   Apparently she was still writing for the series recently?  RIP

[LisaM]

3 new Agatha Raisin episodes today (Feb. 10)

[Door County Cherry]

6 hours ago, LisaM said:

3 new Agatha Raisin episodes today (Feb. 10)

I think it's just one today and then one more each of the next two weeks.

[Writing Wrongs]

I wish that James would leave. He's so boring. I don't know why they are together. they don't seem to have any similar interests. I always preferred Charles. He seems to understand Agatha better and is up for her shenanigans.

Edited February 15, 2020 by Writing Wrongs

[roseha]

I wonder if they are setting up for a breakup between Agatha and James.  The way the last episode ended with her leaving without him and him staring into space...it might help the show.  It's almost that they are dumbing James down, though he was never the most interesting character to start with.

It may have been that I was having a bad day, but I watched both parts of the new episode and later kind of thought, what happened there?  The dance setup had not much to do with the eventual main mystery being solved, it was almost like an extended red herring I thought.

[Door County Cherry]

I wonder if James will be in any future mysteries now that he's going on another book tour and he and Agatha have split.  I do like how they handled the whole breakup in that they slowly built up the fact that they didn't really have a ton in common and found they were content on their separate paths. 

Mild book spoilers--not super specific

Spoiler

I do know that he appears in later books but only from the book jacket descriptions and not from actually having read the books. 

I liked this episode.  I adore the costumes. I want so much of what Agatha wears.  And I wanted the hate Mrs. Bloggins was wearing. I just streamed the old reality show The Mole online and I couldn't help but think she'd be great at that game with all of her copious notes that Charles couldn't see. 

I kind of figured who the murderer was based on the story Agatha was telling James at the beginning of the episode. 

[roseha]

I thought this was by far the best of this season's episodes, maybe the fact that they did something about the impending breakup between Agatha and James, and actually involved James in the story in the process, helped it, but compared to Haunted House and the Dance one, it had a lot more going on, even though I thought the solution to the drug subplot was signaled pretty early on.

I think Bill and Toni are turning out to be a cute couple even if he seems a little old for her?  though I'm not sure how old Toni is supposed to be.  Anyway it's better than the weird will they or won't they they had going between Bill and Gemma I thought.

I'm not very good at figuring things out so I didn't see Mrs. Boggle's complaints about the teenagers figuring into the final whodunit.  Good episode.  I guess there is one more coming?

[dleighg]

13 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

I adore the costumes. I want so much of what Agatha wears.

Agree- but I so cringed to see Agatha in her bright white pants sitting on a dirty wooden bench-- would she ever do that? 🙂 

[Writing Wrongs]

I didn't recognize Patsy Kensit until I saw her name in the credits. She looks so different.

[LisaM]

I just finished the Deadly Dance where James and Agatha seem to be growing apart. This took me by surprise. Was there a prior episode in which they appeared to be on shaky ground? I haven't seen the older episodes in awhile but I seem to recall that, once they got back together, they were tight?

[Door County Cherry]

5 hours ago, LisaM said:

Was there a prior episode in which they appeared to be on shaky ground?

I think they love one another but I think James is feeling distant from her since they have separate interests and passions.  

[LisaM]

I just watched the latest two part episode which I thought was quite good. I missed Roy... No mention of his absence and I noticed that Sarah had a lot more screen time and Mrs. Boggle became part of the action. 

I hope that Agatha and Charles don't get together now that James is gone. 

[roseha]

22 hours ago, LisaM said:

I just watched the latest two part episode which I thought was quite good. I missed Roy...

@LisaM,  Roy is back in the Season 4 finale which aired tonight.  I'll wait on commenting until more people have seen it 🙂

[LisaM]

I watched the final episode of this season tonight and thought it was quite good. I like Sarah's expanded part this season. Glad to see that Roy was back. 

I think that Toni has done a good job filling in for Gemma. 

I hope that there is another season but, if not, this felt like a finale. 

[Writing Wrongs]

How the hell did Wilkes become a DI? He is so effing dumb. I really hate characters who are stupid just for stupid's sake.

[LisaM]

 

9 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

How the hell did Wilkes become a DI? He is so effing dumb. I really hate characters who are stupid just for stupid's sake.

I don't recall him being so blatantly stupid in the earlier episodes. He was always a dope but less "in your face". 

[BookWitch]

Just watched The Deadly Dance.  Did they change writers? It seemed to be all over the place.  I kinda figured James was on his way out after the botched wedding. I never saw them as end game. 

DI Wilkes is way more irritating than  he used to be. And doesn't Bill out rank him?

[LisaM]

1 hour ago, BookWitch said:

Just watched The Deadly Dance.  Did they change writers? It seemed to be all over the place.  I kinda figured James was on his way out after the botched wedding. I never saw them as end game. 

DI Wilkes is way more irritating than  he used to be. And doesn't Bill out rank him?

I agree about Wilkes. He used to be my favorite character because he was bumbling and funny. Now he is just annoying. He outranks Bill. 

[nara]

Glad they got rid of James. Agatha never really seemed to be his type. I think he was fond of her, but wanted someone more traditional, like Mary from season 1

[Door County Cherry]

The show has officially been renewed for a fourth season.  They start filming in March.  It was supposed to film a year ago but, well, a lot of things were supposed to happen a year ago. 

Here's a news article about it announcing who is expected to return and the description of the books they're planning to cover. 

https://tellyvisions.org/2021/02/11/agatha-raisin-officially-renewed-fourth-season

In news that makes me argh--

Spoiler

It appears that James is back.

 

And in book news, from what I've read about the ghost written latest entry in the series

Spoiler

It looks like the series has swung back to Agatha and James a couple?  Nooo.  I liked that they moved towards Charles and Aggie.  

 

[buckboard]

Not all of us get to see episodes of Agatha Raisin the day they first air.  Some of us don't view them until months or years later.  When a post just says  "On last night's episode." or "I wonder what happened to Gemma last week,"  many of us will have no idea what episode you are talking about.

It would help if posters would add the title or Season & Episode information.  

For example, "On last nights episode (The Witch of Wyckhadden), I loved the creepy guest actors."
"I wonder what happened to Gemma in Season 3 Episode 7."  

[J-Man]

New episode available 12/20 on Acorn. And Season 4 begins in March, 2022. From Cord Cutters News:

Quote

Monday, December 20

Agatha Raisin: Kissing Christmas Goodbye (Acorn TV Original) – Holiday Special

Agatha Raisin (Ashley Jensen, Catastrophe, Ricky Gervais’ After Life) is hired to protect a woman from her ghosts of Christmas past, but when she’s found dead, Agatha has a murder investigation on her hands, with everyone in the village a would-be suspect – including the woman’s children. Co-starring Matthew Horne (Gavin and Stacey.) Season 4 of this Acorn TV Original series is scheduled to premiere in March 2022. (1 EP, 2021)