One of the less - likely television detectives of the 1990s is D.I Henry Crabbe(the late Mr Richard Griffiths - massively missed),awaiting a well -earned retirement in order to run a small restaurant with his wife(the sublime Miss Maggie Steed). For somewhat contrived reasons he is forced to continue as a police officer and thus combine his new career with his old one. Cooking on TV?There's a novel idea.....well,it was before we were inundated with hundreds of appalling cheaply produced cooking programmes that dominate our schedules 20 years later. So Mr Griffiths gets to sniff wineglasses knowledgeably, and play with a military - sized oven with every appearance of huge enjoyment. Oh,and do a bit of detecting too,whenever the police are baffled,which they appear to be with worrying regularity. He is a gentle,contemplative soul,not given to saying "You're nicked sunshine" at every opportunity nor bending his captives' arms up behind their backs whilst snarling in their ears - indeed,one wonders why he became a detective in the first place. But still,the whole façade comes tumbling down if you think too hard about it. Best to go along with the flow and watch two lovely actors having fun without breaking into a sweat. Sadly the rest of the regular cast are put in the shade by Mr and Mrs Crabbe in every episode,so much do they dominate the screen. "Pie in the sky" is lovely,quirky TV,I doubt it could be made today let alone be allowed to thrive in this era of plastic - wrapped interchangeable "product" where to be "different" is to be cancelled after the pilot.

One of those yearnings for simpler, happier times led me to reflect on life in the nineties and seeing this a few times lately on ITV3 only helped to foster sentimental memories of a less complex age.It may only be lightweight, but that's its beauty and delight. Richard Griffiths is excellent and was made for his role as the wise, phlegmatic and unconventional inspector. His portly frame hardly lends itself to much frenetic activity, but his facial expressions are a joy and all you need.A good mix of stories, not always featuring murder, and the slice of restaurant life is a warm counter to the police activity. Plenty of understated humour from a cast of colourful characters.In 1995 I thought that the century was ending at a pretty fast and bewildering pace, with technology and media beginning to impose itself in almost every walk of life. But watching "Pie" and remembering it all as if it were only yesterday makes me think that maybe life wasn't so fast after all. Fifteen years on and what I find so curious now is that it was made just before the world went nuts with mobile phones and The Internet. It's a show that has dated well in terms of story, but to never see anybody use a mobile phone and scant mention of computers seems strange and rather sweet.All in all, a really good example of BBC light drama at its best, when the Corporation considered subtlety and intelligence as important as glamour and ratings.

As a teenager I didn't appreciate Pie In The Sky when it first aired in the mid 90's. However, it's being re-run in an early evening slot on ITV3 at the moment & it's well worth watching again. As mentioned in other comments, the plots often follow a similar path in each episode & Henry almost invariably solves the crime or saves the day single handedly. This is only a very minor flaw though. The scripts & dialogue are great & the excellent cast really bring it all to life. Richard Griffiths is a brilliant character actor & Henry Crabbe is played with an understated charm that most actors would not be able to carry off. This charm & subtlety is carried throughout the whole series & I haven't seen a single bad episode yet. It's also worth mentioning the sheer number of characters in the series. Many of the restaurant staff & Police officers appear regularly from episode to episode but the writers have put real effort into giving them all distinct personalities. I never get the feeling that they are just cardboard cut-outs put there just to advance the plot. Pie In The Sky is very enjoyable light viewing with more than enough substance to keep me interested for the whole 40 episodes.

'Pie in the Sky' is the name of a country restaurant run by part-time Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe and his accountant wife, Margaret. Henry makes the world's greatest steak and kidney pies and would cheerfully retire from the police force. Assistant Chief Constable Freddie Fisher, however, won't okay his retirement for reasons I won't disclose. Freddie calls in Henry to solve difficult cases which are likely to cause embarrassment to senior members of the local police force. There are moments of drama in this series, but these are tempered by an underlying streak of gentle humour. A wonderful cast, great scripts, as well as cooking lessons from Henry, in between the action. Take note of Bella Enahoro who plays 'Cambridge' in the first five seasons. She and Henry make a great duo!