<P> In 1989 ITV broadcast a feature - length pilot, Missing Persons, featuring Tony Melody as Robert Wainthropp and Garry Halliday as Geoffrey Shawcross, but ITV opted not to pursue a series . The storyline of this episode is ignored in the subsequent BBC series, with the first episode establishing Hetty as a detective in her first case and meeting Geoffrey for the first time . The characterization of Hetty was altered considerably for the series from the pilot . The' original' Hetty was blonde and far more' theatrical' in her manner . Additionally, the pilot character lived in considerably better circumstances than the home seen in the series . </P> <P> The BBC series was filmed primarily in Burnley, Darwen, Blackburn, Rossendale, Bolton and other locations in Lancashire . </P> <P> The music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess, cornet solo performed by Phillip McCann and in 1997 the title track was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for best television theme . </P> <P> The BBC series was popular with viewers, but no further episodes were commissioned after 1998 . In 2008 Patricia Routledge said in an interview that the cast and crew had been told by the BBC at the end of the fourth series that a fifth series would be commissioned, but it never was . </P>

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