The appeal of the series also rests in our identification with the problems Mma Ramotswe tackles every day — petty thefts in the office or home, wives suspicious of their husbands’ fidelity, falsification of testimonials, and unsuitable grooms. Since they “do not usually get involved in cases where people have died” Mma hardly ever encounters the police. Mma’s solutions draw on old Botswanian morality. If there is bad behaviour, the quickest way of stopping it is to give more love.

Jill Scott, who plays the lead, is an R&B singer and poet who had to put on pounds to fill Mma’s ample (though Ramotswe would prefer the term ‘traditionally built’) frame. One hopes that she will also be able to bring Mma’s unique moral core to the small screen.

The writer is a fellow at The Centre for Policy Research, Delhi

shylashris@gmail.com