'Mrs Sidhu Investigates' Creator Suk Pannu Talks New Acorn TV Murder Mystery (Exclusive)

There is no denying that murder-mystery movies and TV shows have been enjoying a resurgence lately, and Acorn TV has a new series that fans of the genre are sure to love. The show is called Mrs Sidhu Investigates, and it is an adaption of the BBC 4 radio series of the same name, created by Suk Pannu. Actress Meera Syal (The Wheel of Time, Paddington 2) stars as the eponymous amateur investigator, Mrs. Sidhu, a role she originated in the radio series.

PopCulture.com recently had a chance to speak with Pannu about the show, and he told us that it has been "hugely exciting" developing the series for television audiences. "I mean, it took a long time to land the show, as well, even as a radio show," he revealed, "because when I first dreamed it up, I think there was a preference for grittier crime shows, and these things cycle round if you stay on the bike long enough." Punnu added, "I think the softer crime has had a revival, Knives Out, all that kind of thing, so a bit of good fortune there, and we'd had a radio show by then, as well. So, yeah, that's been fantastic."

Offering some details on "the origins of the character," Pannu explained that it goes all the way back to his childhood growing up in "Slough," which he acknowledges is perhaps unfamiliar for many Americans. "It's a kind of industrial town that was developed in the fifties and sixties, and a lot of immigrants moved there from the colonies to work, so it gets looked down on a little bit," Pannu said. "I grew up around that area, and the paradox of it is that, though itself is kind of regarded as quite grotty, it is sitting in the most expensive real estate in the whole of the UK."

Pannu went on to explain, "It's a few miles from Windsor Castle. There's royalty. It's another few miles from Eaton College where all our prime ministers are educated. It's Cookham and Marlow and all these beautiful places, Cheviot Hills. The Thames River runs miles. So, it's kind of got this real kind of contrast with where it is, and the people inside it have this contrast with the people outside it, too, mainly a lot of immigrants, working-class people."

"I was brought up in that sort of area," Pannu continued. "When we were brought up, we were brought up by our parents, but we were also brought up by our aunties. These were amazing women. They gave you a lot of love, made lots of great food, but they also had a real moral center. They're also really, really good at wheedling your secrets out, finding out what you're up to before you knew yourself. Everyone's got an auntie like that, but I had 30."

Pannu admitted that he "used to love reading crime, those great escapist novels," and that, partnered with his upbringing, led to planting the seed where one day Mrs Sidhu Investigates would bloom. "You're talking about the Marples and all this sort of thing, Sherlock Holmes. Wouldn't it be great one day if one of these women, these immigrant women, could be like Miss Marple, could be like Sherlock Holmes." The showrunner confessed, however, that it was just a "pipe dream back then," adding, "I mean we didn't even see lead characters who were Asian at that time, but forward wind to a friendlier commissioning environment many years later where we did get this radio show away with this idea that this interfering, nosy auntie who's a caterer who'd go from Slough out into this posh world and start solving crimes out there." 

Pannu then offered, "I think that was an important thing for me, that she comes out of that culture with all the wisdom and the tough knocks she gets from it and goes out into this very important, glossy, high-stakes world and solves their problems." Mrs Sidhu Investigates Episode 2 debuts on Monday, September 25 on Acorn TV. New episodes air weekly on Mondays.