Recipe for success
MARION McMULLEN looks at the launch of the BBC’s gentle crime drama Pie In The Sky 30 years ago QUICK FACT
THE BBC cooked up a treat when Richard Griffiths starred as a foodloving copper in Pie In The Sky.
The role of Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe was created specially for him and saw his character searching for clues while perfecting his signature restaurant dishes in the kitchen. His speciality was traditional English fare.
The gentle Sunday evening crime drama launched on the Beeb 30 years ago on March 13, 1994, and all 40 episodes can now be seen on UKTV Play.
Pie In The Sky was so popular it ran for five series until 1997 and brought Richard Griffiths TV fame.
DI Henry Crabbe, unlike many TV detectives, had no foibles or personal traumas to deal with and was a refreshingly happy chap.
He liked nothing better than to be rattling the pots and pans in his restaurant kitchen, but his old police boss continued to find ways to help him solve the latest crime on the books.
Maggie Steed co-starred as Henry’s wife Margaret and was also his accountant and cashier. A young Samantha Womack (then credited as Samantha Janus) popped up as a waitress and The Bay’s Marsha Thomason also appeared in the series.
There were also guest appearances over the years by Cold Feet’s John
The outdoor restaurant shots seen in Pie In The Sky were filmed in the High Street in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire, left. The building was originally used as a florist business.
Thomson, Carry On star Joan Sims and Pete Postlethwaite.
The “semiretired” cooking policeman tackled everything from missing persons and a shooting, to villains coming back from the dead and robberies.
The final episode, called Smelling Of Roses, saw Henry lose his sense of smell as he looks into a case of charity fraud.
His sense of smell returns when the case is closed and he finally resigns from the police force to devote himself full-time to his beloved restaurant business.
Richard, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 65, went on to success in movies like Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp, The History Boys and as Uncle Vernon in the Harry Potter films.
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