''Belle and Sebastian'' is a 1965 French TV children's serial which was adapted in the 1966 novel ''
Belle et Sébastien
''Belle et Sébastien'' is a 1966 novel by Cécile Aubry
about a six-year-old boy named Sébastien and his dog Belle, a Great Pyrenees, who live in a village in the French Alps close to the Italian border. Sébastien lives with his adopted grand ...
'' by
Cécile Aubry. It was 13 episodes long and starred Aubry's son Mehdi as Sebastien, whilst Aubry appeared as the episode host and co-directed episodes with Jean Guillaume.
Synopsis
Six-year-old orphan boy Sebastian lives with his friend, six-year-old
Pyrenean Mountain dog
The Pyrenean Mountain Dog
(french: Chien de Montagne des Pyrénées) is a breed of livestock guardian dog from France, where it is commonly called the Patou. The breed comes from the French side of the Pyrenees Mountains that separate France a ...
Belle, in the French
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
with the villagers of Belvédère.
Production
It was filmed as a live-action show in
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
in France under its original name in 1965. In 1967 it was
dubbed and the title was
anglicized
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...
. It first appeared in the UK on
BBC1
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
on Monday afternoons, running from 2 October 1967 to 1 January 1968. Shown in the time slot after ''
Blue Peter
''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...
'', it was repeated several times and became an important ingredient of
school holiday
An academic year or school year is a period of time which schools, colleges and universities use to measure a quantity of study.
School holiday
School holidays (also referred to as vacations, breaks, and recess) are the periods during which sch ...
television. Filmed in and around the village of
Belvédère
Belvédère (; oc, Barver; it, Belvedere) is a Communes of France, commune in the Vésubie valley north of Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in southeastern France. The village of Belvédère is located at the entran ...
in
Alpes-Maritimes
Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, ...
, its authentic locations, sensitive writing, and winning performances by the actors, makes it an enduring classic. Its deep theme is the power and importance of love. The part of Sebastian was played by
Mehdi El Glaoui, Cécile Aubry's son from her marriage to Si Brahim El Glaoui, the eldest son of
Thami El Glaoui
Thami El Glaoui ( ar, التهامي الكلاوي; 1879–23 January 1956) was the Pasha of Marrakesh from 1912 to 1956. His family name was el Mezouari, from a title given an ancestor by Ismail Ibn Sharif in 1700, while El Glaoui refers to hi ...
, the
Pasha
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignita ...
of
Marrakesh
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
, whom she met in 1950 while filming ''The Black Rose''.
Legacy
The serial spawned two further 13 part colour film sequels ''Sébastien parmi les hommes'' ("Sebastian Among Men") (1968) retitled ''
Belle, Sebastian and the Horses'' by the BBC and ''
Sébastien et la Mary-Morgane'' ("Sebastian and the Mary Morgan") (1970) which was not broadcast by the BBC.
The
Scottish indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...
band
Belle and Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released eleven albums. They are often compared with acts such as The Smiths and Nick Drake. The name "Belle and Sebastian" come ...
took their name from the TV series.
Cast
* Flanker the dog as Belle
*
Mehdi El Glaoui redited as Pierre Medhiref name="Lewis"> as Sebastien
* Edmund Beauchamp as Cesar
* Jean-Michel Audin as Doctor Guillaume
* Dominique Blondeau as Jean
* Paloma Palma
redited as Paloma Mattaas Angelina
* Hélène Dieudonné as Celestine
References
External links
* {{IMDb title, 0166900
1965 French television series debuts
1965 French television series endings
1968 British television series debuts
1968 British television series endings
BBC Television shows
French drama television series
British television shows based on children's books
Television shows based on French novels
French children's television series
1960s British children's television series
Television shows set in France
Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française original programming