''Dolmen'' is a French TV

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

consisting of six 90 minute-long episodes, and starring Ingrid Chauvin. It was written by Nicole Jamet and Marie-Anne Le Pezennec, and broadcast for the first time between 13 June and 18 July 2005 on

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...

Synopsis

The story is set in Ty Kern, an island off the coast of Brittany (which is, in real life, Belle-Île-en-Mer). In Ty Kern, four families are connected by ancient rivalries and secrets: the Kersaints, the Le Bihans, the Pérecs, and the Kermeurs. Marie Kermeur, a young police lieutenant, returns to the island to marry her childhood love, Christian Bréhat. But on the day before their wedding, strange events begin to happen. The bloody corpse of a seagull is brought in by the tide, Marie is assaulted by strange nightmares during the night, her brother Gildas is found dead, and menhirs near the town begin to ooze blood. Aided by an inspector from the mainland, Lucas Fersen, Marie decides to clarify these strange phenomena. It is now that a series of deaths begin.

Cast and characters

Family tree

Kermeur family

Proprietors of a hotel. * Marie, lieutenant of the

Gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

in Brest ( Ingrid Chauvin) * Millic, Marie's father (later known not to be so) (Jean-Louis Foulquier) * Jeanne, Marie's mother (later known not to be so) (Martine Sarcey) * Gildas, Marie's other brother (Luc Thuiller) * Loïc, Marie's brother (Manuel Gélin) * Nicolas, Loïc's son (Tom Hygreck)

Pérec family

* Yves,

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and mayor (Marc Rioufol) * Chantal, Yves' wife (

Catherine Wilkening Catherine Wilkening (born 16 July 1963) is a French film and television actress. She is best known for her performance as Mireille, the Mary Magdalene figure in Denys Arcand's 1989 film ''Jesus of Montreal'', and her lead role in the French po ...

) * Aude, daughter of Yves and Chantal (Lizzie Brocheré)

Kersaint family

* Arthus, Châtelain (Georges Wilson) * Pierre-Marie ("PM"), Arthus' son (Hippolyte Girardot) * Erwan de Kersaint, Arthus' son and Marie's real father (both secrets later to be revealed) (

Yves Rénier Yves Rénier (29 September 1942 – 24 April 2021)
w ...

) * Armelle, Pierre-Marie's wife (Laure Killing) * Juliette, daughter of Pierre-Marie and Armelle (Emilie de Preissac)

Le Bihan family

Owners of a '' faïencerie'' (factory for fancy pottery) * Yvonne, head of the business (Nicole Croisille) * Pierric, Yvonne's mentally handicapped son (Chick Ortega) * Gwenaëlle (often shortened to Gwen), Yvonne's daughter (Micky Sébastian) * Philippe, Gwenaëlle's husband (Didier Bienaimé) * Ronan, son of Gwenaëlle and Philippe (Thomas de Sambi)

Other characters

* Christian Bréhat, Marie Kermeur's fiancé, a famous Yacht racing captain ( Xavier Deluc) * Anne Bréhat, Christian's sister, owner of a café at Ty Kern (Brigitte Froment) * Lucas Fersen, major in the Brest Gendarmerie (Bruno Madinier) * Patrick Ryan (false identity adopted by Erwan de Kersaint), Irish novelist * Stéphane Morineau, head of

computer forensics Computer forensics (also known as computer forensic science) is a branch of digital forensic science pertaining to evidence found in computers and digital storage media. The goal of computer forensics is to examine digital media in a forensical ...

for the Brest Gendarmerie (Richard Valls)

Technical details

Directed by Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

: Didier Albert *

Screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

: Marianne Le Pezennec and Nicole Jamet * Production: TF1 and Marathon Productions

Filming locations

* Port of Ty Kern: port of Sauzon, Belle-Île-en-Mer. * ''Faïencerie Le Bihan'': the faïencerie HB-Henriot, Quimper. * The lighthouse: the lighthouse of the Kermorvan

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

, at

Le Conquet Le Conquet (; br, Konk-Leon) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. This is the westernmost town of mainland France. Only three insular towns—Ouessant, Île-Molène and Ile de Sein—are further west The ...

. * ''Site de Guénoc'' (English: ''Guénoc place''—the bleeding menhirs): built with concrete on a metallic structure on the Kermorvan peninsula, near the lighthouse at

. * ''Château des Kersaint'' (the castle of the Kersaint family): Château de Kerouartz, in

Lannilis Lannilis (; br, Lanniliz) is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in north-western France. Population Inhabitants of Lannilis are called in French languag ...

. It is an early 17th-century

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

, where a woman was, in fact,

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

ed.

International broadcast

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

: ETB2, October 2006 — November 2006 * Belgium: RTL TVI, June 2005 – July 2005 * Germany: RTL 2, November 2006 * Hungary:

RTL Klub RTL (formerly: RTL Klub) is a Hungarian free-to-air television channel owned by RTL Group. The channel began broadcasting three days after its main rival TV2, one of Hungary's first commercial TV channels. History Since its start, RTL Klub ...

, 2006 summer * Italy:

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, August 2006 – September 2006 * Portugal: RTP1, August 2006 *

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

: TSR, June 2005 – July 2005 * Poland:

TVP 1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Program I Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Polish channel to be broadcast and remains one ...

, February 2006 * Russia:

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

, May 2007 * Finland: MTV3, June 2007 — August 2007 * Slovenia: POP TV, July 2007 — August 2007 * Portugal: RTP1, December 2007 * Czech Republic: TV Nova, January 2008 * Catalunya:

, January 2008 * Netherlands: Misdaatnet (Dutch commercial crime TV network), May 2011 * United States: MHz WorldView, September 2013

Accolades

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=420388 2000s French drama television series Television shows set in France 2005 French television series debuts 2005 French television series endings TF1 original programming