''The Madame Blanc Mysteries'' is a crime-drama television series produced by Saffron Cherry Productions for Channel 5 and

Acorn TV The acorn, or oaknut, is the nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'' and '' Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains one seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne ...

written by

Sally Lindsay Sally Jane Lindsay (born 8 July 1973) is an English actress and television presenter known for her roles as Shelley Unwin in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'', Lisa Johnson in the Sky One comedy series '' Mount Pleasant'' an ...

and

Sue Vincent Sue Vincent is a British actress and writer. Career Vincent spent three years training in acting and musical theatre from 1991 to 1994 before first appearing on stage in 1996. Her first television role was as Anne Bevitt in ''Casualty''. Sinc ...

. The series concerns a

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

antiques dealer (played by Lindsay) solving an array of mysteries and deaths around the fictional village of Sainte Victoire in the

South of France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...

. The series premiered on 16 October 2021 on Channel 5 and also features several established actors including

Robin Askwith Robin Mark Askwith (born 12 October 1950) is an English actor and singer who has appeared in a number of film, television and stage productions. Making his film debut as Keating in the film '' if....'' (1968), a role he would reprise in ''Brita ...

Steve Edge Steve Edge (born 2 November 1972) is an English actor, writer and former stand-up comedian. He is most famous for his work on ''Starlings'', ''Phoenix Nights'', '' The Cup'', '' The Visit'', ''Peep Show'', '' Benidorm'' and the satirical maga ...

and

Sue Holderness Susan Joan Holderness (born 28 May 1949) is an English actress on both stage and screen having had appearances in '' Bless This House'' (1974), '' The New Avengers'' (1977), ''Canned Laughter'' (1979), ''The Sandbaggers'' (1980), ''The Cleopatr ...

Plot

Successful Cheshire antiques dealers husband and wife Jean and Rory White (

and Peter Gaynor) have a cottage in the village of Sainte Victoire in the

. When Rory is killed in a car crash in the village, Jean realises all her assets have been pawned off, leaving her penniless. She then travels to France to unravel the mystery of her husband's death, his missing valuable ring, and the identity of the woman with whom her husband was having an affair; solving other mysteries along the way with the help of local taxi driver Dom (

), local chateau owners Judith and Jeremy (

and

) and the local Chief of Police, Caron (

Alex Gaumond Alex Gaumond (born ) is a Canadian actor, singer, songwriter and filmmaker best known for his involvement in West End theatre. He plays series regular gendarme Caron, the chief of police in Sainte Victoire, in the Channel 5 television series '' T ...

Cast

as Jean White *

as Dom Hayes *

as Gloria *

as Jeremy Lloyd James *

as Judith Lloyd James *

as Caron *Alaïs Lawson as Claudette *Narayan David Hecter as Xavier *Margeaux Lampley as Celine *Aonghus Weber as Niall *Olivia Caffrey as Barbara

Paul Chuckle The Chuckle Brothers were an English comedy double act comprising Barry David Elliott (24 December 1944 – 5 August 2018) and Paul Harman Elliott (born 18 October 1947). They were known for their BBC children's programme ''ChuckleVision'', w ...

and

Paul O'Grady Paul James O'Grady Order of the British Empire, MBE Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and former drag queen. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his d ...

featured in one-off roles.

Production

The series was officially announced in January 2021 under the title ''The Reluctant Madame Blanc''. with casting released later in the year. Although set in the South of France, the series was actually filmed in

Gozo Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After t ...

Malta.

Episodes

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2022–23)

Broadcast

The first episode was broadcast on 16 October 2021 on Channel 5 and was shown on

shortly after.

Reception

After its release, ''The Madame Blanc Mysteries'' became one of the most popular new shows on Channel 5, with episodes bringing in around 2.5 million viewers to the channel. Channel 5 and Acorn TV have confirmed that the series will return with a season 2 and it will include a 2022 Christmas special.

Home media

Series One of ''The Madame Blanc Mysteries'' was released on DVD on 13 December 2021.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madame Blance Mysteries, The 2021 British television series debuts 2020s British drama television series 2020s British mystery television series Channel 5 (British TV channel) original programming English-language television shows