Best known for such classic comedies as Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No.42, writer and actor Meera Syal turns detective as an Indian caterer from Slough who develops a knack for solving mysteries in new crime comedy-drama, Mrs Sidhu Investigates. Here's what we know so far...
Mrs Sidhu Investigates release date
Mrs Sidhu Investigates begins on Wednesday 4 October at 8 pm on UKTV Drama. The series comprises four feature-length mysteries.
In the US the first episode is available via Prime Video although you need to sign up to Acorn TV to watch the full series.
Mrs Sidhu Investigates: Wasn't this a radio show in its former life?
Yes! Mrs Sidhu Investigates was brought to people's attention on BBC Radio 4, with Meera voicing the titular role. And no one was more surprised than the star when she got the call to say the comedy crime drama was being turned into a TV series.
"There was a real appetite to get Mrs Sidhu on TV but I didn't think it’d ever happen because making the transition from radio is so rare," Meera, 62, says of the show, created by Suk Pannu of Goodness Gracious Me fame. "It still has warmth and humour — but our canvas is bigger now!"
Mrs Sidhu Investigates: Who is she?
Recently widowed, Mrs Sidhu begins juggling her new catering business and looking after her feckless son, Tez, (Gurjeet Singh, Ackley Bridge), with serving up her own "Indian auntie" brand of justice — aka nosiness — to those who think they’re above the law.
"Mrs Sidhu is a middle-aged Indian woman who's a brilliant cook," says Meera. "But her catering business isn’t doing that well, so she’s slightly on her uppers and has reached that stage where she’s thinking: ‘Is this it?'. Investigating these mysteries gives her life again.
"Mrs Sidhu is an amalgamation of all the beloved ‘aunties’ I had growing up; all my mum's friends, who were bossy and nosy but also strong, matriarchal and kind," she adds. "Like them, Mrs Sidhu’s brilliant at reading people and giving advice. But because she's a brown woman of a certain age, she's largely invisible, so she's able to get into corners and no one suspects her. Forget James Bond, if you want a good spy, pick someone that looks like Mrs Sidhu!"
Mrs Sidhu Investigates: What's the story?
In the first feature-length episode, Mrs Sidhu’s catering for a swanky health club, when two bodies are found dead in the spa. Her interference in the investigation, however, soon brings her into conflict with DCI Burton, much to the amusement of his colleague DS Mint (Naana Agyei-Ampadu, Death in Paradise).
"I got asked if I wanted to play this divorced, semi-depressed detective; why they thought of me I don’t know," teases actor Craig Parkinson, best known for playing bent cop Matthew ‘Dot' Cottan in hit crime drama Line of Duty. "Dot was an iconic role that changed my life but I couldn’t keep playing shady, bad guy detectives. So this was a new spin for me — it had a lightness of touch but also a depth and darkness that I thought I could bring to it.
"To describe Burton as ‘not a people person’ is an understatement; he’s someone you’ve got to chip away at, which is what Mrs Sidhu does," adds Craig. "Burton knows where she’s coming from but doesn’t have the time for somebody who keeps popping up and being quite annoying - yet underneath he wants to like her."
Unlike their TV alter-egos, it seems Meera and Craig got on like a house on fire!
"I’ve always admired Craig's work; my husband [Unforgotten's Sanjeev Bhaskar] was on Sandylands with him and he once interviewed us for his podcasts, so our on-screen chemistry came together naturally," she says. "With the four central actors — me and Craig, Gurjeet Singh (Ackley Bridge), who plays my on-screen son, Tez, and Naana Agyei-Ampadu (Death in Paradise), who portrays DS Mint — all those relationships just fell into place."
How does Mrs Sidhu get people to talk?
Mrs Sidhu unleashes the ultimate power of persuasion to get witnesses to spill the beans on what they might know about a case.
"Mrs Sidhu brings out sweet treats to bribe people for information and it seems to work. It’s like she's got this ‘witchy power’ in that people eat her food then tell her everything!" says Meera. "The nicest part about the show moving to TV was being able to constantly eat. Every time we wrote a delicious recipe for the radio, the actual dish wasn't there but, for TV, it's got to be. So we’ve had fantastic professional chefs on the show, and lots of lovely food around."
How does she compare to other female TV detectives?
According to Meera, Mrs Sidhu shares similarities with many of our favourite TV sleuths... with her own inimitable style.
"Mrs Sidhu has Miss Marple's curiosity and ability to be unassuming, mixed with Vera's perception and the fact she’s completely without vanity," says Meera. "She’s able to use people’s prejudices against them — the assumption that a middle-aged brown woman is no threat, is her biggest weapon.
"It would’ve been easy to put Mrs Sidhu in a sari and make her an ‘exotic’ detective but she's an Indian woman like me and we wanted to reflect that, so she has a distinct uniform of embroidered tops," she adds. "Mrs Sidhu drives around in an old blue van named Jolene but she’s terrible at driving… and parking. I suggested that for the script, because so am I!"
Is there a trailer?
Yep, here you go...
*Interview conducted prior to the current US actors' strikes
