HBO Picks Up "Agency"


HBO has retained the services of "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency."

It had been rumored for months that Anthony Minghella's adaptation of the best-selling books by Alexander McCall Smith could wind up as a TV series, though nothing was official until now.

HBO has partnered with the Weinstein Co. and the BBC on the drama series, ordering 13 hourlong episodes to begin filming in the summer. That's in addition to the two-hour pilot that Minghella recently shot in Botswana from a script he wrote with Richard Curtis ("Four Weddings and a Funeral").



HBO has obtained U.S. and Canadian television and home video rights, and the BBC has taken U.K. television distribution. TWC, which controls all other international territories, is planning to take the project to MIP in April.

"Agency" stars Jill Scott as Precious Ramotswe, the proprietor of the only female-owned detective agency in Botswana. Anika Noni Rose plays her quirky secretary, Mma Makutsi, and Lucian Msamati stars as Ramotswe's devoted suitor, JLB Matekoni. Also in the pilot are David Oyelowo, Idris Elba, Colin Salmon and John Kani.

Minghella and Curtis also are executive producers, while the producers are Sydney Pollack and Timothy Bricknell for Minghella's Mirage Enterprises and Amy Moore for Cinechicks.

HBO co-president Richard Plepler called the book series "highly entertaining."

"Alexander McCall Smith's wonderful books have been a sensation around the world for years," he said. "And needless to say, the opportunity to work with the exceptionally gifted Anthony Minghella and Richard Curtis makes this project all the more exciting."

Added TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, "The Weinstein Co. is uniquely positioned to develop and create television programming that matches the quality viewers expect when seeing a film in a theater, and having HBO and BBC on board will provide this initiative with the broadest possible audience."

For his part, Minghella said his experience shooting the pilot in Botswana was an "amazing adventure," praising the people and the landscape.

"It was a privilege to be working on a film which celebrates what we can learn from Africa, and not what we think we can teach it," he said.

Jane Tranter, BBC controller, fiction, added that she happy to be continuing the BBC's ongoing relationship with HBO, following on the heels of "Rome," "Five Days" and "Stuart: A Life Backwards."

Information on the book here for those interested.

Hollywood Reporter.