From Radio Times (East Anglia BBC East/ITV Anglia), 23-29 November 1996,  pg. 10

Hetty's Boy Friday

Drama mirrors life for Hetty Wainthropp's sidekick

The Wainthropp Detective Agency is back, making a dent in Lancashire's crime statistics in the secont series of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (Fridays BB1).

For Dominic Monaghan, the 19-year-old who plays Hetty's assistant, Geoffrey,the series mirrors life as the newcomer gains valuable experience working alongside one of Britain's most accomplished actresses, Patricia Routledge. "We go over the script together and discuss how we think it's going," says Monaghan. "It works well because we bounce off each other -- quite like Hetty and Geoff."

The chance to play the role came out of the blue for the young actor. "I was at sixth-form college in Stockport, with a view to going to university and then going on to drama college. I had an agent who sent me for an audition and eventually got the part. My whole life changed -- I had to leave college and start work. It was always my game plan to become an actor, but I got a head start.

"My character grows up quite a lot in the second series. He discovers girls, and different themes start to develop as well as detective work. There is a bit of argy-bargy because Hetty thinks the detective agency should take up all his attention, but he's a young lad so he has other interests, too. They are so alike. He loves the work and he loves Hetty, but he has another life an that's where the conflict comes."