An Interview with the Creator/Writer of ‘Mrs Sidhu Investigates’, Suk Pannu

Meera Syal as Mrs. Sidhu in ‘Mrs Sidhu Investigates’. (Photo Courtesy of Laurence Cendrowicz/Acorn TV.)

Suk Pannu is a talented writer that has breathed life into stories across multiple mediums, such as novels and radio shows, and television shows as well. Currently, his latest project is the Acorn TV series, Mrs Sidhu Investigates, and we here at NTG the distinct honor of sitting down with Suk to discuss the creation of this incredible new show.
 
John Betancourt: I would love to know, to start with, what it was that inspired the creation of this character in this universe in general start with?
 
Suk Pannu: Well, that that comes kind of out of my childhood, you know, growing up in an immigrant area of Britain. And I was trying to explain… is Slough a place that you're familiar with at all?
 
John Betancourt: Unfortunately, It is not.
 
Suk Pannu: Okay, so I’ve got to try and make some comparison to what it might be in the States, kind of… an industrial town. It might be Scranton, it might be… somebody said, Newark, or somewhere like that. But it's kind of a town that it's the underdog. Do you know what I mean? It's kind of, you know, a lot of immigrants moved there in the 50s and 60s from Britain's colonies, you know, to work basically. But because it's a sort of concrete jungle, it's kind of looked down on a bit, but also because it's planted right in the middle of the most fabulous, rich part of Britain. So, kind of, like a few miles away is Windsor Castle, where royalty live, Eaton College is the other direction just a couple of miles away, where you know, all our prime ministers have been educated. The Cheviot Hills, Cookham, the Thames. It's all beautiful, beautiful, lush countryside. And when I grew up, we were you know, basically brought up by my parents, but we're also brought up by our Auntie's, and these aunties were great. They gave you lots of love, lots of great food, but they also kind of knew everything you were up to, sometimes even before you knew it yourself. So, I think everyone's got Auntie's like that. But I kind of had a whole host of them. And I thought, you know, one day, wouldn't it be great, if you know, one of these women was an amateur sleuth, kind of Slough’s answer to Miss Marple. So, and later on, I went on, and I come from writing comedy. And I wrote a lot of comedy involving Meera (Syal), we worked on a show called The Kumars at No. 42, for many years, and I thought, wouldn't it be great to do something with her. And she loved the idea of the character, you know, we talked about it. And so, it was born.
 
John Betancourt: Now something that I noticed about this show, is that it is a very nontraditional crime show, which I very much appreciated. What went into the decision to make it so incredibly realistic?
 
Suk Pannu: Yeah, it's really interesting, because, you know, in some ways, you're saying, “Oh, this is a Miss Marple update.” You know, “Immigrant Miss Marple,” this sort of thing. You can, you know, put that sort of high concept idea onto it. But it's got to be now. And the way the police operate now is completely different. You watch or read an old Marple, the policeman basically says, “Yeah, you do it.” (laughter) “You've done a few of these, just crack on.” And I think that would have felt quite, you know, you could do it, but it would have taken the show in a different direction. And some of it has to do with the chemistry between Meera Syal, who is our superstar, an absolutely wonderful actress, who really kind of exudes the part. And Craig is such, you know, playing such an acerbic, kind of misanthropic cop who's been through this hellish divorce, this hellish you know, married life, and now he's having a hellish time as a single person. And I think their chemistry really gelled and that it felt so grounded, that you could get away with this sort of slightly more amateur sleuth concept, which is always hard to pull off.
 
John Betancourt: Now that leads me right into my next question. With this being an amateur sleuth show and then also such a nontraditional crime show, what kind of challenges did you run into in assembling something this ambitious?
 
Suk Pannu:  I think that I mean, it goes to your last question about where do you establish the level of reality for a show like this? Sorry… I am very much admiring your Trek Memorabilia on your wall.
 
John Betancourt: Oh! Thank you. Big nerd what can I say.
 
Suk Pannu: I am a huge fan myself, all the way from The Original Series.
 
John Betancourt: Oh, same here for sure.
 
Suk Pannu: So, I think science fiction shows face a similar problem too, yeah? Where is the line of reality in this because, you know, they're obviously very unreal, they’re in the future. And so, I think it was just getting that, right. Particularly, it came from a radio show, and you can do different things in a radio show to how they're going to be on telly. And so, once we got it, it just felt right. and as you cross the series, I think their relationship develops into a more, you know, friendly one, if you like, a more accepting one, you know, across the series, but it starts off with kind of very much hostility. She's in his face, he's arrested her niece, he's in her face, he doesn't need amateurs telling him how to do the job. And I think you take your lead from there.
 
John Betancourt:  Obviously, this is a very, very important project to you on a personal level, what does it mean to you to have this so close to debuting, and audiences being able to see it?
 
Suk Pannu: Oh, it means such a huge amount to me. I mean, it's come from where I grew up, it's come from, you know, inside me, and it's not… you know, it's not like, you work on a lot of projects, of course, you put everything into them. But it isn't like, “Oh, my God, this is the one I wanted to do all these years.” So, it is a heart and soul project. It means everything. The other thing I think is so important, is that it's kind of she's, she's a breakout character. She's somebody who takes like, kind of the wisdom and the Hard Knocks from her own culture. But is able to go out into this kind of bigger, glossy, high stakes world. So as an immigrant, you know, I don't get hugely political about it. You know, we talked about white saviors, well she's kind of a brown savior, she's, she's inverting that trope, going out into the world and saying, “Look, you know, we can solve your problems, you know, we can go out there and do it.” It feels liberating to me as a person of color it, you know, and I hope it feels entertaining, but kind of also grounded to people looking at it and going, “Yeah, you know, she crosses two worlds.” Like I do, you know, I live in two cultures. So, it's very personal.
 
John Betancourt: With that in mind, obviously, there's a lot of personal meaning that you want to get across and a lot of a lot of underlying stuff that you want to impress upon the audience, what else would you want the audience to take away from this first season?
 
Suk Pannu: I want them to have fun. This whole, this kind of stuff, the crime, the amateur sleuth, the murder mystery thriller, you know, I think it got kind of revived with Knives Out, that kind of thing. You know, you're seeing Only Murders in the Building, you know, so this is kind of alive again, you know, having been kind of on the back burner for a while, I think or perhaps looked down a little bit. So, I think I want people to appreciate it, but it's quite a sophisticated medium, to convey what the stories -- you can do serious stuff, you know, within it. And I think the joy of it is it's a game between -- more than almost any other genre -- it's a game between the audience and the show, and I don't know about you, but when I when I sit on the sofa with my wife at night watching a crime show, all we're saying is “Oh, he did it” from scene one, you know? Going, “he must have done it. No, no, no, no, it can't be him. Because… oh! Because of the other thing. It must be just because of the way she looked at that other guy.” And so, it's full of that, that kind of to and fro. So, it's, again, it's another challenge to build that layer in, the unguessability, part of it, that kind of half, trying to make it hard because we know everyone's looking at it going, must be them, must be them, must be them. You've got to throw in more surprises. So, I want people to take away the joy of that cross cultural meeting. And the joy of just having a mystery laid out for me.
 
John Betancourt: Now, you bring up a good point, in talking about Knives Out, what other mystery influences kind of went into this show?
 
Suk Pannu: Well, you know, I kind of always wanted to write crime. You know, I sort of grew up… escapist stuff was great for me growing up, I was living across two cultures. So, science fiction, and kind of cozy crime, very escapist worlds. I think by getting people to escape, you can do stuff in them that is harder to do in straight up drama, you can deliver morals and messages and all sorts of things in there in a lighter way. So, it was nice to be able to do that. But definitely, you know, Sherlock definitely, Marple all those kind of what they call “Golden Age Mysteries” But as I grew older and started watching, and I actually love American shows, I love the tone of shows like Castle, you know that that run this -- Monk I loved – but you know, that run a comedic line, and yet deliver this very satisfying mystery and can sometimes do serious bits and pieces too. But to have that kind of scope. You know that that level of camps is what kind of made me really happy to do it.
 
John Betancourt: The last question that I have for you today, what are you most proud of when it comes to what you've accomplished here?
 
Suk Pannu:  Gosh, I think… I think that's all I've been saying. (Laughter) What I'm proud of, I think, you know, when you a writer, you ask yourself, “what are you doing?” You're kind of scribbling out these words. You know, you write down things like this will be in a mansion in Berkshire. And on the day, you go to set someone's found you one… I think that's kind of exciting. I dunno if it makes me proud, I think the first day worked, walked on set, I really did feel proud for my family. You know, everyone who's backed me, looked after me, my wife, everyone who has supported me… to go… here it is. The could all these cranes, look at this, you know, a fairytale world in itself, you know, in which we're going to build a fairytale. So, I'm proud to deliver. If you watched it and people watching go, “I didn't guess the guy at the end, I had some laughs and I really understood it.” I think I'm proud.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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