Latest news with #Crabbe
Telegraph
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Got a taste for cosy crime? Then the underrated Pie in the Sky should be next on your list
With its tortured geniuses fussing over fine-dining dishes, hipster favourite The Bear has been rattling the saucepans of TV critics and awards judges alike. Along with pressure-cooker BBC counterpart Boiling Point, restaurant kitchens have become the hot subject for small-screen drama. Before either of those shows, however, came another culinary series with gourmet credentials – but an altogether gentler tone. Pie in the Sky wasn't just one of the most underrated shows of the 1990s. It was also the ultimate cosy crime drama, decades ahead of its time. Airing on Sunday nights from 1994 to 1997, the charming crime caper followed Henry Crabbe (Richard Griffiths), a detective who doubled as a restaurateur – much to the chagrin of his superiors and the confusion of the criminal fraternity. The result was a flavoursome blend of whodunit and gentle comedy, with a generous helping of cookery tips on the side. Escapism had rarely been so delicious. After 25 years in the force, disillusioned Crabbe dreamt of hanging up his handcuffs and opening his own restaurant. When a bid to catch a notorious thief backfired and Crabbe was shot in the leg – 'I'm not built for dodging bullets,' he quipped, 'I make too big a target' – he was effectively blackmailed into semi-retirement. He could pursue his culinary ambitions as long as he took on occasional police work. 'The best of both worlds,' as his self-serving boss put it (and, coincidentally, the title of the debut episode). Crabbe divided his time between his duties as detective inspector and head chef, with each episode following parallel plot lines; one in which he investigated a case, the other dealing with a problem at the eponymous eatery. He ran the restaurant with his accountant wife Margaret (Maggie Steed), who was all about the bottom line and cared little for food herself. In a running joke, she was immune to Henry's cooking, no matter how hard he tried. According to its creator, playwright Andrew Payne – who sadly died last year – Pie in the Sky was 'a cop show that was anti-cop shows'. The lead role was written with Griffiths in mind, and he was even sent to the Prue Leith School of Cookery to research the part – but nevertheless always proclaimed himself an abysmal home cook. To a generation of viewers, Griffiths will forever be lonely, libidinous Uncle Monty from cult 1987 film Withnail & I. He also found a global audience with 1991's The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, and quipped in 1994 that those who didn't know him for either role would simply wonder of him, 'Who is that fat git?'. By the Noughties, he became synonymous with Uncle Vernon from the Harry Potter films. But, as Crabbe, he was an utter delight – the genial protagonist, whose flair at the stove matched his skill as a sleuth. 'It was a challenge to make Richard a policeman who didn't want to be one,' Payne once said. 'I like reluctant heroes and Crabbe would much rather be in the kitchen making an omelette than out solving crimes.' Before Pie in the Sky, Payne cut his TV teeth writing scripts for much-loved ITV comedy-drama Minder (his first episode, in 1980, was also set in a kitchen) and the likes of Shoestring, Lovejoy and Midsomer Murders – all quirky crime series in a similar vein. In contrast to Minder's gritty London locations, Pie in the Sky unfolded in the picturesque fictional town of Middleton in leafy Westershire (loosely based on Berkshire). Crabbe's speciality, of course, was those titular pies. His golden-crusted steak-and-kidney number was, according to one police colleague, 'so addictive, it should be on the list of banned substances'. Griffith's physical size, shrewd comic instincts and sparkling intelligence made him entirely believable as a gourmand detective, who would sigh at his police colleagues' packed lunches, despair at his wife's crisp consumption and launch into gastronomical rants at the drop of a chef's hat. 'I've always been aware that from a certain point of view my looks were against me,' he told The Times in 2012. 'And I'm still very disappointed with this shape. In an ideal world, I'd like to get it straightened out, so I could be more easily cast and play more parts. But as I've got older it's got less and less of a problem. It doesn't really matter any more, as long as I've got my brains intact.' Crabbe was a foodie long before it became fashionable. He'd gleefully pull over his Saab if he spotted wild garlic or sorrel growing at the roadside. He eulogised about prosciutto, chorizo and extra virgin olive oil when they were still exotic delicacies rather than standard supermarket fare. He carried a silver pepper grinder – a cherished wedding gift from Margaret – in his waistcoat pocket at all times. His hero was celebrated 19th-century chef Alexis Soyer, whose never-bettered lamb cutlets have remained on The Reform Club's menu for 180 years. 'Everywhere I go, I get people asking me how they should prepare certain dishes,' Griffiths said in 1995. 'People must watch what we do in the kitchen quite closely… we do try to get it right.' Despite the talents of its star, Pie in the Sky was by no means a one-man show. As well as Steed's twinkly turn as the long-suffering Margaret, Joe Duttine played the restaurant's loyal chef – an ex-con once arrested by Crabbe who had learned to cook in prison. Samantha Womack and Marsha Thomason were young waitresses. The likes of Jim Carter, Phyllis Logan, Andy Serkis, Keeley Hawes and Nicola Walker popped up in guest roles. The villain in the first episode – who not only shot Crabbe but, arguably a worse offence, stole his pepper mill – was portrayed by Michael Kitchen of Foyle's War fame. Such was the programme's popularity that it spawned an entire mini-industry. Although most exterior scenes were filmed in Marlow, Henry's beloved eatery was actually a toy shop in Hemel Hempstead's Old Town. It became a tourist attraction for the four years the show was on-air. A canny local restaurateur renamed his own premises Pie in the Sky, just eight doors down, to cash in on the influx of visitors. The show's influence even reached as far as Australia, where a long-standing restaurant called Pie in the Sky in Olinda, Victoria began serving the show's recipes, notably its famed steak-and-kidney pie. With its mild-mannered hero, wry tone and quaint setting, Pie in the Sky presaged the cosy crime boom. Reflecting on the series' tone in 1997, Griffiths said: 'Pie in the Sky works because it is a good-natured show that people can watch with the confidence that they are not going to get their sensibilities assaulted. The difficulty is to do that without being too wimpish, or too soft [...] We go for the dirty language and the tough stuff in rehearsal, then pull it back when the camera's rolling. That way the attitude is still in your mind.' It's a boom that shows no sign of slowing. Some of the BBC's recent hit cosy crime series include Ludwig, which follows a crime-solving crossword setter, Death Valley (a crime-solving actor) and Father Brown (a crime-solving priest). U&Alibi this week brings us a crime-solving bookseller (in Mark Gatiss 's Bookish), while the starry adaptation of Richard Osman 's bestselling The Thursday Murder Club books lands on Netflix next month. Henry and his pies blazed a trail before them all. Pie in the Sky ran for 40 delectable episodes across five series. To revisit the quintessentially British show now is to be reminded of a more innocent time – yet in many ways, it hasn't dated at all. It is the televisual equivalent of comfort food, hearty and nourishing. Go ahead and tuck in.
National Observer
08-07-2025
- General
- National Observer
Newfoundland group alleges fish farms are dumping plastic waste and derelict equipment
On the south coast of Newfoundland near Gaultois is a small cove known as 'The Locker.' The region is sparsely populated — the number of residents in Gaultois has gone down by 80 per cent since the 1990s, following the cod moratorium and ensuing closure of its fish plant. But when the human population plummeted, something else took its place: Atlantic salmon raised in fish farms off the coast. Along with the fish has come litter that one group documented as recently as last month as styrofoam, loose rope, PVC pipe and derelict cages from the aquaculture operations. In December 2024, abandoned aquaculture equipment — including old sea cages, plastic, netting and feed bags — was identified at The Locker by the conservation group, Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), which prompted an order from Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne for owner Cooke Aquaculture to clean it up. According to the CBC, the cleanup was completed in January 2025. On February 1, the ASF chartered a helicopter to fly over The Locker, and Neville Crabbe, vice president of communications and special projects for the group, said 'it was all cleaned up … none of the surface waste was visible.' 'But when we went back on June 23, it was there again, which was sort of mind-boggling,' he said. The visit to The Locker showed that 'significant amounts of salmon farm equipment in very poor condition have been hauled back into the area,' according to the report, as well as 'severely damaged salmon farm rings, loose ropes, and Styrofoam particles floating away from the site.' They also travelled to nearby Roti Bay, which has six active fish farm licences held by Cooke Aquaculture and Ocean Trout Canada, and found 'substantial abandoned equipment and other debris, … including long ropes anchored to the bottom floating across the surface of the water.' Roti Bay had the most obsolete equipment, explained Crabbe, at 132 cages in 2016 and 48 in March 2025. Findings from the site visits built on ASF's documentation of plastic waste from 2024 and were released in tandem with a broader satellite survey of all aquaculture sites in the province, which documented damaged and obsolete equipment from 2011 (when high-resolution satellite imagery became available) and 2025. On Tuesday, those findings were released, which Crabbe says shows six sites with recent or ongoing dumping issues. A NL group has documented styrofoam, loose rope, PVC pipe and derelict cages from aquaculture operations in the province as recently as last month, and says a moratorium should be placed on open net pen salmon farm development in the province. In response to the findings, Keith Sullivan, executive director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association, said the ASF is 'knowingly misleading people because they know that equipment recycling has been ongoing for some time, they know that all equipment is housed on licensed lease sites and they know recent images they represent as the Locker is actually a separate nearby licensed site." In response, Crabbe said that the images taken in 2024 and 2025 of The Locker were in slightly different locations, but all in the same overall area, and all within what would be considered The Locker. He said either way, it is garbage and unused equipment that Cooke — which holds all leased sites in The Locker — should be held accountable for. According to Sullivan, much of the unused equipment highlighted by the ASF study connects to historical producers who went bankrupt, some of which 'did not dispose of equipment properly, or equipment was otherwise not removed according to modern practices.' Cleanup of 'legacy abandoned equipment' began in 2016, and 'is close to being completed in line with federal and provincial requirements,' Sullivan said. In May 2025, Mowi Canada East announced it had recycled 260 tonnes of obsolete equipment. Canada's National Observer reached out to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, who did not respond by deadline. As of August 2024, there were 115 active fish farming licenses in Newfoundland and Labrador, though only 19 are stocked with fish –— four with trout, the rest salmon. 'As an industry, they're trying to expand,' Crabbe said.. 'They need to maintain their social license, and they've hauled stuff back into that location,' he said, explaining that they'd gotten tips from people working in the industry. Along with highlighting unused equipment and waste, ASF set out to document the underutilization of existing fish farm sites as the industry eyes expansion. It found 53 of the 106 licensed sites in the province had no farming equipment between 2020 and 2025. Mowi Canada East is proposing to add over two million smolts to its existing salmon farm operations along the south coast of the province, while the Newfoundland government previously set a goal of increasing salmon production to 50,000 megatonnes per year, a significant increase from the most recent Statistics Canada numbers which put production of farmed salmon and trout at about 15,600 in 2023. To Crabbe, the underutilization of sites combined with the presence of garbage and derelict equipment is only the tip of the iceberg, which is why the ASF is calling for a moratorium on salmon farm expansion. Unlike in British Columbia, where open-net pen salmon farms are being phased out by 2029 by the federal government, the Atlantic Coast has no deadline. This contrasting approach to fish farming is due in part to a years-old court case which led to a discrepancy in who calls the shots in the two regions. In British Columbia, the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans has shared jurisdiction and ultimate decision-making power over fish farming, whereas in Atlantic waters, it is solely a provincial responsibility. The plastic pollution 'is the part you see,' Crabbe said. 'There's so much else that's happening: serious disease outbreaks, mass mortality events, interbreeding.'
Hamilton Spectator
08-07-2025
- General
- Hamilton Spectator
Salmon group says aquaculture companies stashing garbage along Newfoundland coast
ST. JOHN'S - An eastern Canadian conservation group is calling for a moratorium on aquaculture expansion in Newfoundland and Labrador, alleging fish-farming companies are stashing plastic garbage along the province's remote southern coastline. In a report summary released Tuesday, the Atlantic Salmon Federation said satellite images suggest aquaculture companies appear to have left broken cages, rope and other debris in six sites along Newfoundland's south coast. The New Brunswick-based group is demanding the federal fisheries minister halt aquaculture expansion in the province until the companies get their waste under control, said spokesperson Neville Crabbe. Under the Fisheries Act, the federal government can investigate or prosecute anyone who disrupts or causes harm to fish habitat. 'Fix your problems, utilize your existing sites, optimize what you have,' Crabbe said in an interview. 'The industry is not going anywhere right now in Newfoundland and Labrador, but nor should it go anywhere else.' The federal Fisheries Department said the Newfoundland and Labrador government is in charge of regulating the aquaculture in the province, and it respects that authority. The department 'recognizes the concerns regarding wild and farmed salmon interbreeding in Newfoundland and Labrador, specifically along the south coast of Newfoundland, and remains committed to collaborating with partners to mitigate associated risks to wild Atlantic salmon populations,' said an email from the department Tuesday. Newfoundland's south coast is known for its towering fiords and small communities dotting its shores, some of which are only accessible by boat or plane. The aquaculture industry is a valued source of jobs in the area. The Atlantic Salmon Federation has been monitoring aquaculture waste in the region for more than a year. Crabbe said the federation is not calling for the companies to shut down or cut jobs. In its latest investigation, the federation worked with Planetixx, a U.K.-based climate data and analytics firm. The team used more than 60,000 satellite images of the area, spanning more than a decade, to train an artificial intelligence model to recognize sea cage rings — the frames that support large nets inside which salmon is farmed. The AI model could then identify sites with abnormalities, such as misshapen rings or haphazard arrangements. When the AI identified a site with anomalies, the researchers viewed high-definition images of the area from Maxar Technologies' satellite constellations. Through this process, they identified six sites they allege were dumping grounds for 'broken, degraded salmon farm equipment,' the report said. They found no equipment at any time between March 2020 to May 2025 in half of the 106 licensed sites analyzed, indicating the areas were inactive. For Crabbe, that suggests the companies don't need to expand into other areas. Last year, members of the federation visited a cove known locally as The Locker, near Gaultois, N.L., and captured images of discarded plastic bags, blue barrels, rope, buoys and old sea cages. Crabbe said the province ordered companies operating in the area to clean it up earlier this year, though the provincial Fisheries Department did not respond to a request for information about the order. He flew over the site in a helicopter in February and saw the debris had been cleared. But when he returned last month by boat, it was once again full of trash, he said. A remotely operated vehicle took images of a sea cage and netting sunken beneath the water. 'The buoyant structure appears to be anchored to the sea floor, unable to float up, potentially indicating a deliberate sinking,' the federation's report summary on Tuesday said. They also found garbage at a site in nearby Roti Bay, Crabbe said. 'It's very clear in their licences, and in the regulations governing the industry, that they have to have waste management plans,' he said. 'The discovery of that sunken cage in The Locker, at the very least, should compel authorities to go and survey these areas to see what else is under the water.' In a news release Monday, the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association said the provincial regulator allows companies to store unused equipment, including sea cages, in leased marine areas before they are dismantled and recycled. 'Plastic sea cages may be held at leased sites until vessel and staff resources are available to safely transport them to shore-based yards and recycling facilities,' the release said. Association director Keith Sullivan said fish-farming companies in the area are dealing with significant amounts of equipment left by previous operators, who were governed by different rules. Efforts are ongoing to remove that waste from the water and have it properly recycled, Sullivan said in an interview. Companies operating under current rules must demonstrate to the provincial government that they will have the money to clean up their sites when their leases come to an end, he added. Crabbe disagreed that the waste was simply being stored, and likened it to tossing a coffee cup in a ditch and saying he was storing it there. 'This equipment was not being temporarily stored for removal and proper disposal. Some of it has been there since 2011, and possibly before,' he told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. Sullivan accused the salmon federation of deliberately misleading the public, and he took issue with Crabbe's coffee cup analogy. 'Actually, it's much more like when you're recycling your containers, putting your containers in the blue bag for recycling pickup,' he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 8, 2025. Error! 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National Observer
08-07-2025
- General
- National Observer
Newfoundland group alleges plastic waste dumping and derelict equipment by fish farm industry
On the south coast of Newfoundland near Gaultois is a small cove known as 'The Locker.' The region is sparsely populated — the number of residents in Gaultois has gone down by 80 per cent since the 1990s, following the cod moratorium and ensuing closure of its fish plant. But when the human population plummeted, something else took its place: Atlantic salmon raised in fish farms off the coast. Along with the fish has come litter that one group documented as recently as last month as styrofoam, loose rope, PVC pipe and derelict cages from the aquaculture operations. In December 2024, abandoned aquaculture equipment — including old sea cages, plastic, netting and feed bags — was identified at The Locker by the conservation group, Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF), which prompted an order from Fisheries Minister Gerry Byrne for owner Cooke Aquaculture to clean it up. According to the CBC, the cleanup was completed in January 2025. On February 1, the ASF chartered a helicopter to fly over The Locker, and Neville Crabbe, vice president of communications and special projects for the group, said 'it was all cleaned up … none of the surface waste was visible.' 'But when we went back on June 23, it was there again, which was sort of mind-boggling,' he said. The visit to The Locker showed that 'significant amounts of salmon farm equipment in very poor condition have been hauled back into the area,' according to the report, as well as 'severely damaged salmon farm rings, loose ropes, and Styrofoam particles floating away from the site.' They also travelled to nearby Roti Bay, which has six active fish farm licences held by Cooke Aquaculture and Ocean Trout Canada, and found 'substantial abandoned equipment and other debris, … including long ropes anchored to the bottom floating across the surface of the water.' Roti Bay had the most obsolete equipment, explained Crabbe, at 132 cages in 2016 and 48 in March 2025. Findings from the site visits built on ASF's documentation of plastic waste from 2024 and were released in tandem with a broader satellite survey of all aquaculture sites in the province, which documented damaged and obsolete equipment from 2011 (when high-resolution satellite imagery became available) and 2025. On Tuesday, those findings were released, which Crabbe says shows six sites with recent or ongoing dumping issues. A NL group has documented styrofoam, loose rope, PVC pipe and derelict cages from aquaculture operations in the province as recently as last month, and says a moratorium should be placed on open net pen salmon farm development in the province. In response to the findings, Keith Sullivan, executive director of the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association, said the ASF is 'knowingly misleading people because they know that equipment recycling has been ongoing for some time, they know that all equipment is housed on licensed lease sites and they know recent images they represent as the Locker is actually a separate nearby licensed site." In response, Crabbe said that the images taken in 2024 and 2025 of The Locker were in slightly different locations, but all in the same overall area, and all within what would be considered The Locker. He said either way, it is garbage and unused equipment that Cooke — which holds all leased sites in The Locker — should be held accountable for. According to Sullivan, much of the unused equipment highlighted by the ASF study connects to historical producers who went bankrupt, some of which 'did not dispose of equipment properly, or equipment was otherwise not removed according to modern practices.' Cleanup of 'legacy abandoned equipment' began in 2016, and 'is close to being completed in line with federal and provincial requirements,' Sullivan said. In May 2025, Mowi Canada East announced it had recycled 260 tonnes of obsolete equipment. Canada's National Observer reached out to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador, who did not respond by deadline. As of August 2024, there were 115 active fish farming licenses in Newfoundland and Labrador, though only 19 are stocked with fish –— four with trout, the rest salmon. 'As an industry, they're trying to expand,' Crabbe said.. 'They need to maintain their social license, and they've hauled stuff back into that location,' he said, explaining that they'd gotten tips from people working in the industry. Along with highlighting unused equipment and waste, ASF set out to document the underutilization of existing fish farm sites as the industry eyes expansion. It found 53 of the 106 licensed sites in the province had no farming equipment between 2020 and 2025. Mowi Canada East is proposing to add over two million smolts to its existing salmon farm operations along the south coast of the province, while the Newfoundland government previously set a goal of increasing salmon production to 50,000 megatonnes per year, a significant increase from the most recent Statistics Canada numbers which put production of farmed salmon and trout at about 15,600 in 2023. To Crabbe, the underutilization of sites combined with the presence of garbage and derelict equipment is only the tip of the iceberg, which is why the ASF is calling for a moratorium on salmon farm expansion. Unlike in British Columbia, where open-net pen salmon farms are being phased out by 2029 by the federal government, the Atlantic Coast has no deadline. This contrasting approach to fish farming is due in part to a years-old court case which led to a discrepancy in who calls the shots in the two regions. In British Columbia, the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans has shared jurisdiction and ultimate decision-making power over fish farming, whereas in Atlantic waters, it is solely a provincial responsibility. The plastic pollution 'is the part you see,' Crabbe said. 'There's so much else that's happening: serious disease outbreaks, mass mortality events, interbreeding.'
Winnipeg Free Press
08-07-2025
- General
- Winnipeg Free Press
Salmon group says aquaculture companies stashing garbage along Newfoundland coast
ST. JOHN'S – An eastern Canadian conservation group is calling for a moratorium on aquaculture expansion in Newfoundland and Labrador, alleging fish-farming companies are stashing plastic garbage along the province's remote southern coastline. In a report summary released Tuesday, the Atlantic Salmon Federation said satellite images suggest aquaculture companies appear to have left broken cages, rope and other detritus in six sites along Newfoundland's south coast. The New Brunswick-based group is demanding the federal fisheries minister halt aquaculture expansion in the province until the companies get their waste under control, said spokesperson Neville Crabbe. 'Fix your problems, utilize your existing sites, optimize what you have,' Crabbe said in an interview. 'The industry is not going anywhere right now in Newfoundland and Labrador, but nor should it go anywhere else.' Newfoundland's south coast is known for its towering fiords and small communities dotting its shores, some of which are only accessible by boat or plane. The aquaculture industry is a valued source of jobs in the area. The Atlantic Salmon Federation has been monitoring aquaculture waste in the region for more than a year. Crabbe said the federation is not calling for the companies to shut down or cut jobs. In its latest investigation, the federation worked with Planetixx, a U.K.-based climate data and analytics firm. The team used more than 60,000 satellite images of the area, spanning more than a decade, to train an artificial intelligence model to recognize sea cage rings — the frames that support large nets inside which salmon is farmed. The AI model could then identify sites with abnormalities, such as misshapen rings or haphazard arrangements. When the AI identified a site with anomalies, the researchers viewed high-definition images of the area from Maxar Technologies' satellite constellations. Through this process, they identified six sites they allege were dumping grounds for 'broken, degraded salmon farm equipment,' the report said. They found no equipment at any time between March 2020 to May 2025 in half of the 106 licensed sites analyzed, indicating the areas were inactive. For Crabbe, that suggests the companies don't need to expand into other areas. Last year, members of the federation visited a cove known locally as The Locker, near Gaultois, N.L., and captured images of discarded plastic bags, blue barrels, rope, buoys and old sea cages. Crabbe said the province ordered companies operating in the area to clean it up earlier this year, though the provincial Fisheries Department did not respond to a request for information about the order. He flew over the site in a helicopter in February and saw the debris had been cleared. But when he returned last month by boat, it was once again full of trash, he said. A remotely operated vehicle took images of a sea cage and netting sunken beneath the water. 'The buoyant structure appears to be anchored to the sea floor, unable to float up, potentially indicating a deliberate sinking,' the federation's report summary on Tuesday said. They also found garbage at a site in nearby Roti Bay, Crabbe said. Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. 'It's very clear in their licences, and in the regulations governing the industry, that they have to have waste management plans,' he said. 'The discovery of that sunken cage in the locker, at the very least, should compel authorities to go and survey these areas to see what else is under the water.' In a news release Monday, the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry Association said the provincial regulator allows companies to store unused equipment, including sea cages, in leased marine areas before they are dismantled and recycled. 'Plastic sea cages may be held at leased sites until vessel and staff resources are available to safely transport them to shore-based yards and recycling facilities,' the release said. Abandoned sites operated by different owners under different rules 'have been and are being addressed,' it said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 8, 2025.
