All You Need Is a Girl and a Gun* (*Jean-Luc Godard)

with Barbara Machin
moderated by Jane Steventon

When Nancy Drew uttered the lines: “I have solved some mysteries, I’ll admit, and I enjoy it, but I’m sure there are many other girls who could do the same,” she had no way of knowing that her kind was going to be one of the staples of international television.

From Miss Marple to Dana Scully, Cagney & Lacey to Jane Tennison and now Eve Polastri, numerous renditions of female TV detectives have always styled out the televisiual crime scene.

Celebrating the evolution and the writing of the female detective, this panel discusses why she holds such a fascination for the viewer, how writers have evolved her across the years, and where, in a post-Me Too landscape, she is likely to head next…

Appearing in this session

Jane Steventon – Development Executive, Producer

Credits include Tracy Beaker, Casualty, Susan Hill's Ghost Story

Jane has worked in adult and children's scripted drama at Disney, CBBC, BBC and Lime Pictures.

Barbara Machin – Screenwriter, Showrunner

Credits include Waking The Dead, The Bill

Barbara Machin is the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning screenwriter who created BBC One’s worldwide-selling hit series Waking The Dead.