Mrs Sidhu Investigates

I was a bit worried about watching this as even though I'd been looking forward to it when I first spotted it on IMDB I'd seen some very bad reviews.

However I'm a big fan of both Meera Syal and Craig Parkinson so I ploughed on with episode one regardless.

It was a gentle cosy mystery with some giggle moments. Light hearted and entertaining which is exactly what you want in a cosy mystery.

I do love crime drama and police procedurals but they can be a bit too bloody and disturbing. On the other hand cosy mysteries can be a bit flat so I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

My other half enjoyed this too and he reckons he's more discerning in his tastes than I am (I beg to differ...) Looking forward to watching more.

Such fun- a perfect lite quirky mystery series with beautiful locals and great actors. So much awful depressing stuff in the world we all live in these days- nice to take a "time-out" with a mug of tea and this lonely show! Hoping for a 2nd and many more series. Even found myself laughing- Mrs. Sidhu played to perfection- the perfect Auntie. I really enjoy that each episode is movie length- 1 1/2 hrs. I so often find myself disappointed when things wrap up to quickly at 45 mins. Please keep these coming- the show is not dark, blood & violence packed - there are enough of those already. Mrs Sidhu Investigates is a welcome change.

I was drawn to the programme because I've always been a fan of the lead actress and actor, they do work really well together so I was not disappointed. It's a nice, funny programme with a good sense of humour and I really hope they decide to bring out a season 2, I hate it when they get you hooked and then cancel it! Of course It's all been done before but they made it feel fresh with enough twists to keep you guessing... Meera Syal is her usual, wonderful self, she gives off a lovely, warm vibe which contrasts well with Craig Parkinson's gruff persona which he does so well. Fingers crossed for season 2 :-)

Recent decade or so has brought forth plenty of crime series where characters, their family, relationships and hobbies prevail over the intense crime solving activities. Thus, the amount of funny moments is bigger and "ordinary" viewers can more relate to the events than just having an "outside" watch... Mrs. Sidhu Investigates is definitely one of such series, being not lame thanks to a certain quality standard BBC maintains. As Slough is ethnically a very diverse area, with lots of inhabitants of Asian origin, it is not another (often odd) attempt to follow politically correct approach.

True, I have my doubts how the events and scenes correspond to reality when fighting major crimes in the modern world and if people with something to hide really open up to a caterer, but the narration is smooth, the main performers are distinct and pleasant (Meera Syal and Craig Parkinson in particular), and the inclusion of other actors known from similar series in smaller roles provide additional value.

The final scenes of Episode 4 alluded that other episodes might follow.

Enjoyable ... but very formulaic... how many murders can she cater? I'd like to see this be renewed ... but they've got to figure out a way to change her character's catering situation. Maybe if she gets some sort of catering job with the police ... I don't know. Maybe she opens up a restaurant near the police station. The acting is fine. The leading lady is charming. The chemistry between the cast members is very good. I'm just afraid their going to run out of plots. Maybe she'll marry the lead detective and "help" him with his cases. Pie In the Sky worked because the lead was a retired detective who opened up a restaurant and still worked part time. I think they cooked themselves into a corner with this one. Here's hoping they figure it out.