Following the death of his long time terminally ill mother, Ashley, enthusiastically aided and abetted by his sister-in-law, Colette, decides that he needs a wife if only for something to do with his big, now empty house. However, the task of finding a wife turns out to be not as easy as it seems, as Ashley has not had much contact with women in recent years and then there is always the delicate problem of the dull, safe, ever present Gillian to be solved. She and her mother have already settled the question of a wife for Ashley if only Gillian would do something about it!!

When his estranged wife is brutally attacked by a burglar, a law-abiding locksmith unconvinced that the junkie charged for the crime is the real attacker starts his own investigation.

Instead of spending her golden years lying down, the indomitable Hetty Wainthropp found her calling late in life. Combining common sense, her husband, and her pocketbook, this senior sleuth takes on all the cases the police deem too minor.

Wycliffe is a British television series, based on W. J. Burley's novels about Detective Superintendent Charles Wycliffe. It was produced by HTV and broadcast on the ITV Network, following a pilot episode on 7 August 1993, between 24 July 1994 and 5 July 1998. The series was filmed in Cornwall, with a production office in Truro. Music for the series was composed by Nigel Hess and was awarded the Royal Television Society award for the best television theme. Wycliffe is played by Jack Shepherd, assisted by DI Doug Kersey and DI Lucy Lane. Each episode deals with a murder investigation. In the early series, the stories are adapted from Burley's books and are in classic whodunit style, often with quirky characters and plot elements. In later seasons, the tone becomes more naturalistic and there is more emphasis on internal politics within the police.