Audiences want to be moved, to be surprised, to be transported

A FLOCK of sheep solving the murder of their beloved shepherd wasn't exactly what Hugh Jackman was expecting when he started reading the script for his new cosy crime whodunnit, The Sheep Detectives.

- BY YOLANTHE FAWEHINMI

The script was so “heartwarming, funny, and unique” that it moved the Emmy-winning X-Men star, 57, who portrays the beloved murder victim George, to tears on three separate occasions.

The Sheep Detectives, directed by Minions filmmaker Kyle Balda, was adapted by Chernobyl showrunner Craig Mazin from a German novel, and Hugh felt it had all the elements of a very unusual murder mystery.

“Craig wrote such a beautiful script, and I knew that in Kyle's hands it would become something truly special - heartwarming, funny, and unique,” says Hugh, who won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Jean Valjean in 2012's Les Miserables.

“Comedy without heart isn’t satisfying - it wears thin. This story is full of heart. That’s what audiences want: to be moved, to be surprised, to be transported.”

In this witty new breed of true crime, George reads detective novels to his flock of sheep every night, assuming that they can’t understand.

But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, in the quaint, fictional English village of Denbrook, the sheep realise they must become the detectives, helping out police officer Tim Derry, played by Nicholas Braun.

As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, including George's mysterious daughter Rebecca, played by Molly Gordon, they prove that sheep might just turn out to be brilliant crime solvers after all.

“None of them will end up on your dinner plate - but their wool might keep you warm. I've played superheroes before, but George is a different kind of hero.