No. 1: Ladies' Detective Agency

[Sweetpea]

One of the most delightful offerings to appear on our television screens over Easter, indeed for many a long day, was Anthony Minghella's BBC1 film of Alexander McCall Smith's bestseller, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.


It concerns one of the more unexpected heroines of modern fiction, a wildly overweight African woman named Precious Ramotswe. And at every turn of Sunday night's story - as she confronted wrongdoers amid the glorious landscape of Botswana - one braced oneself for TV's usual climaxes of torture, mayhem or mere commonplace massacre.

Truly No. 1: Why the Ladies' Detective agency has renewed my faith in television | the Daily Mail


Did anyone see this?

We did. While charming, I found it slow and slightly silly.

[poppy]

I really enjoyed it, though parts were irritating.
I did see a programme a year ago, about a real lady detective in Africa, I was hoping this had been based on her life.

I saw it and I loved it. I thought she was a great character along with her nutty secretary. Loved the final touch at the end where the wronged wife amended the sign over the door.

[poppy]

It is quite interesting that i real life women make the best detectives in Africa
BBC NEWS | Programmes | Africa's real lady detectives
"We discovered that most of our cases, especially marital cases which involve surveillance, are handled very well with women there. We had a problem some time back. When you are doing surveillance in a bar or a nightclub and you put a man there, he starts drinking, he gets drunk and he can easily be compromised. "In our own experience we've found that it's quite different with ladies. She'll just have a coke or a tonic. They are very disciplined."

[Bruv]

I saw and enjoyed it, it did start slowly, but it grew.
It wasn't meant to be deep or clever, just a bit of fun.

I think they were setting the scene for a series.

[poppy]

I hope so I really liked the actress who played precious. I wish they would repeat the programme on he real life lady detectives as a forward if they do make a series that was a very interesting documentary.

[Sweetpea]

Yes, it was a pilot for a series. Jill Scott who plays Precious is in fact American, but pulled off the accent well I thought.

I would love it to be a series. Certainly something I'd watch and something OH would not watch because he doesn't like detectives, women or Africans! Jill Scott was very convincing with her accent wasn't she? I'm hopeless at accents. I can do a few but only if I really psyche myself up to it.

[Sweetpea]

The one I can pull off is 'oop North'. Very few can pull off East London.

I have never yet heard a northerner say "oop"