Detective best-seller to be HBO series

Thu., March 13, 2008

Matea Gold Los Angeles Times

HBO has picked up a television series based on Alexander McCall Smith’s book “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.”

The best-seller and its popular sequels relate the adventures of Precious Ramotswe, a no-nonsense investigator who runs a detective agency in Botswana.

A two-hour pilot, starring Jill Scott (“Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?”), recently was filmed on location in Botswana, directed by Anthony Minghella, who co-wrote the script with Richard Curtis.

HBO, in partnership with the Weinstein Co. and the BBC, ordered 13 additional one-hour episodes of the series, which will begin filming this summer.

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