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Sheep Detectives, The

image for Sheep Detectives, The

Short takes

Not suitable under 7; parental guidance to 7 (violence, scary scenes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Sheep Detectives, The
  • a review of Sheep Detectives, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 7 May 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 7 Not suitable due to violence and scary scenes.
Children aged 7 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and scary scenes.
Children aged 8 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Sheep Detectives, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes, threat, violence and coarse language
Length: 109 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

George Hardy (Hugh Jackman) has lived a solitary life as a shepherd since his wife died. He loves his sheep and has named them all, including a special sheep named Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss), after his wife, and an outsider called Sebastian. Every night, he reads them detective stories which he doesn’t believe they understand, but they take in much more than he realises.

One fateful night, George is killed by an intruder. The hapless village policeman, Tim (Nicholas Braun), writes it off as an accident. The sheep have other ideas, however, and have to convince Officer Tim that it was, indeed, a murder and also help him to solve it.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Detective stories; Animated action; Grief and loss.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, often for comedic effect, including:

  • Two ram brothers often fight and head butt each other.
  • Three little lambs tumble off a ladder.
  • A sheep has a bucket on his head and crashes into George’s caravan.
  • A sheep gets his head stuck in a picket fence and tries to set himself free. Eventually he escapes but causes everything around him to crash down.
  • A sheep knocks Officer Tim over and runs rampant, knocking everything over in its path.
  • The two ram brothers butt into a runaway car and smash the window.

Other violence includes:

  • George angrily kicks his neighbouring shepherd out of his caravan.
  • A shopkeeper smashes things in her shop in anger.
  • At the reading of the will, several people start shouting and yelling at each other.
  • Sebastian tells a very sad story of how he was rejected as a winter lamb. He was bought by a carnival owner who made him fight a vicious dog until he bled. A quick recollection of this is shown.
  • An upsetting scene shows the sheep being chased by growling, vicious dogs. A dog attacks one of the sheep and Sebastian comes in to defend the flock. Sebastian fights the dogs and sends them off but he collapses and dies as a result.
  • George is seen arguing with another man.
  • A man runs away from the police, knocking people out of the way.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Several scenes with thunder and lightning, setting an eerie scene.
  • Two sheep walk through fog at night and are approached by a flock of woolly sheep and two barking dogs.
  • Sudden loud noises, such as banging on a door.
  • Dogs are seen viciously barking and snarling.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • A butcher is shown wielding a cleaver.
  • George’s extended arm is seen as he lies dead on the grass.
  • Sebastian explains to Lily and Mopple, while walking through a graveyard, what a church is for. He tells them God is a shepherd but he’s also a lamb. He’s invisible and people eat him in church every Sunday.
  • A little lamb, known as the winter lamb, is excluded from the flock. Winter lambs are always rejected. Sebastian was also a winter lamb, which is why he lives apart from the flock. He tells Lily that no-one wants you and you deserve nothing and you come to believe it.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • Officer Tim is attracted to a young woman who arrives in the village.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • George is seen drinking whisky in a glass.
  • Drinking of wine in a house.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Damn
  • Crap
  • Shut up
  • Some name calling, such as:
    • Stupid
    • Idiot
    • Weirdo
    • Fool.

In a nutshell

The Sheep Detectives is a comedy drama based on the book by Leonie Swann. It is a charming movie, set in a typical English village, with lots of good messages. There are, however, a couple of distressing scenes making it unsuitable for younger children, and best suited for ages 8 and over.

The main messages from this movie are that our memories keep the ones we love alive; and to accept others into your flock even though they might be different.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Courage
  • Bravery
  • Getting out of your comfort zone
  • Determination
  • Teamwork
  • Inclusion
  • Resourcefulness
  • Kindness.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • The little lamb was ostracised by the flock because he was born in the winter. George loved him, however, and the flock eventually come to realise that he is just one of them. Parents could talk about why some people are rejected for no good reason and that we should be kind to all, regardless of their circumstances.