PG (109 minutes)

The Sheep Detectives adds a new dimension to the cosy crime genre. It also redefines the term “woolly headed”. In this murder story, the crime is solved by a flock of sheep whose powers of deduction rival Miss Marple’s.

The film is a rather loose adaptation of Three Bags Full, a 2005 bestseller originally written in German but set in an Irish village. Its author uses the pseudonym Leonie Swann, preferring to keep her real name secret even though the book has been translated into 26 languages, as well as prompting a follow-up.

The screen version, however, is quintessentially English. Its human characters are variations on the types who have populated countless British sitcoms. There’s a dim-witted young policeman, a pious vicar and a butcher who would dearly like to turn the sheep into mutton. The only exotics are the sheep themselves – a diverse selection of breeds who come across as such fierce individualists that the word “sheep-like” becomes as redundant as “woolly headed”.

The other surprise is the identity of the victim – Hugh Jackman, cast as the flock’s shepherd, George Hardy, whose early demise means that Jackman is largely seen in flashback. A vegetarian who detests the butcher, he regards his sheep as his best friends, relaxing every evening by reading them crime stories. On these occasions, Lily, a light-brown Shetland voiced by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, usually manages to guess the culprit – a skill that will prove invaluable in the days ahead.