Agatha Raisin

Ashley Jensen is back as the sleuth whose life is packed with just-moved-to-the-country-based cliches. Former colleague Roy (Mathew Horne) turns up after being dumped, bringing a naked yogi with him. Agatha joins a rambling group and is soon dragged into a murder investigation after one of their members is found dead on a landowner's estate. And so begins a flimsy but entertaining whodunnit in which Agatha is reunited with her ex, James (Jamie Glover), as they go undercover.

Agatha Raisin filming commences!

The first series of Agatha Raisin has begun shooting.

Radio Times review

Agatha Raisin, a brittle London PR with a sharp bob and spiked heels, gives up her fast-paced life for the peace of a honey-coloured thatched cottage nestling in the Cotswolds. But her attempts to fit into the life of the village of Carsely backfire horribly when the local roué is poisoned by a quiche that Agatha submitted to the village show.

Agatha is the charmless amateur-sleuth heroine of a string of bluntly jolly books by MC Beaton. OK, this isn't The Wire, but it will, ahem, kill a couple of hours on a night when you'll possibly welcome something that makes no demands on you whatsoever. Ashley Jensen makes a chic, lively Agatha and the Cotswold scenery is, of course, chocolate-box perfect.

Ashley Jensen on Agatha Raisin

"I've played a lot of best friends so it's nice to be at the helm," The Extras and Ugly Betty star explains as she returns to our screens in Sky1's Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death.

Ashley Jensen, Katy Wix and Hermione Norris star in this comic adventure about a friendless, hard-nosed PR maven who moves to the countryside only to find the peaceful village she has chosen is riven with scandal, murder and rigged baking competitions. The script is very thin gruel but some splendid actors go a long way to saving it. Basically, a much camper Midsomer Murders with a no-brainer whodunnit at its centre and no real character development.

Actress Ashley Jensen channels her inner clown

She may have left Hollywood behind, but the vivacious Scots actor retains a love-hate relationship with glamour.