Rosemary & Thyme is a British television cosy mystery thriller series starring Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris as gardening detectives Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme. The show began on ITV in 2003. The third series ended in August 2007. The theme is murder mysteries in the setting of professional gardening jobs. It was created by Brian Eastman to entertain his wife, Christabel Albery, who is an avid gardener. The show was directed by Brian Farnham (10 episodes, 2003–2006), Simon Langton (8 episodes, 2004–2006), Tom Clegg (3 episodes, 2003) and Gwennan Sage (1 episode, 2004). Clive Exton, who helped create the show,^[1] contributed 10 of the 22 scripts.

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Quick Facts Rosemary & Thyme, Genre ...

Rosemary & Thyme
Rosemary and Thyme
Genre	Cosy mystery Crime thriller Suspense
Created by	Brian Eastman Clive Exton
Starring	Felicity Kendal Pam Ferris
Opening theme	Variation on "Scarborough Fair"
Ending theme	idem
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	22
Production
Producer	Carnival Films / Granada Media
Running time	20x60 minutes 1x90 minutes 1x120 minutes (including adverts)
Production company	Carnival Films / Granada Media
Original release
Network	ITV
Release	31 August 2003 (2003-08-31) – 6 August 2007 (2007-08-06)

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A cosy mystery series set in beautiful British and European gardens, Rosemary & Thyme features two women brought together by a sudden death who discover their shared love of the soil. Being gardeners means that they overhear secrets and dig up clues which lead them to handle floral problems, solve crimes and capture criminals.

On 12 May 2006, ITV announced that the show was to be axed as part of a major refresh in ITV1's programming.^[4] The final two episodes of series three ("Racquet Espanol" and "Enter Two Gardeners") were not aired with the rest of the series during 2005–06. They were eventually broadcast in late July and early August 2007.

Because of the outdoor nature of the show and the brevity of the British summer, it became the practice to set two episodes of each series in overseas locations. Two stories were already ready for shooting in Portugal when changes in production personnel caused delays. By the time that shooting was rescheduled, some actors were otherwise committed, and the ITV Network Centre was left with no option but to cancel filming for a fourth series.^{[citation needed]}

Three novelisations, credited to series creator Brian Eastman and ghostwritten by crime writer Rebecca Tope, were published in Britain by Allison and Busby and in Australia by Hardie Grant Books:

• And No Birds Sing (published in 2004, based on the pilot episode)
• The Tree of Death (published in 2005, based on the final episode of Series 1)
• Memory of Water (published in 2006, based on the feature-length opening episode of Series 2)

Composed and conducted by Christopher Gunning, a CD of incidental music and the opening theme (performed by John Williams) from the first two series of Rosemary & Thyme.

"The Case of the Dead Wait", by Peter Lovesey (January 2007 Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine)

DVD releases