France in Focus

We've just watched season 1 of "Vigil", a UK policier about a murder on board a submarine. Knowing something of this world, there are definitely some holes in the detail, but it was good entertaining stuff and I look forward to series 2 which will not take place on a submarine !

TV series today have a ridiculous desire to tick all the boxes : The cast must include people of all races,colours and creeds, LGBT, disabled, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Can we really expect a small team in a police station to contain all these "differences"? Every time OH and I watch TV, it's "Oh, there's the obligatory black, white, yellow, LGBT, disabled ...... bravo, the person who did the casting has ticked all the boxes". Sure, in big cities and some areas, you might get the variety, but in a small town or little village in the depths of the country, it isn't true to life.

Anyway, does anyone have any DVD recommendations ?

I recently watched Shetland - albeit not on DVD - which was interesting - and less OTT PC.

Mind you, Shetland must now be challenging Midsomer and Oxford as the murder capital of the UK.

We were lent the Shetland DVDs up to series 6 and really enjoyed it. It convinced us that it wasn't really somewhere we'd like to live - though I have family who come from Orkney !!
The French love the Midsomer murders - when I worked at the Gendarmerie in Saumur, they were mad about it. I tried to convince them that it wasn't quite like that in real life

@Blaze my French neighbours would invite us for aperos and then insist we watched 'Mr Barnaby' - we didn't mind too much as we like MM anyway

Vigil we thought excellent but then IMHO you can't go far wrong watching any series that has Suranne Jones as one of the main actors.

We've now started recording the last series of Happy Valley and watch episode 1 last night - excellent and again any series with Sarah Lancashire as one of the actors is usually excellent.

Sparkle wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 5:25 pm you can't go far wrong watching any series that has Suranne Jones as one of the main actors.

Agreed ! We saw her in Dr Foster (another series lent to us by friends) and she was excellent.
It's worth looking at what series certain actors have done, though unknowns can also very really good.

Not sure if it is on DVD but I enjoyed Red Rose (do not confuse with Rose Red) over the late summer. It is I suppose of the horror genre so may not appeal to everyone.

In Edinburgh in May we were in the Camera Obscura with the lead actor from Shetland and his wife and child

exile wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 6:08 pm It is I suppose of the horror genre so may not appeal to everyone.

Hmmmm, not really into horror, sci fi or gratuitous violence !!

Engrenages. Top policier. Gritty stuff. I bought the complete series on line. Secondhand.

Blaze wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 6:26 pm

exile wrote: ↑Tue Jan 03, 2023 6:08 pm It is I suppose of the horror genre so may not appeal to everyone.

Hmmmm, not really into horror, sci fi or gratuitous violence !!

I personally would not have classified it as horror - rather IT detective - but characters do die so I suppose horror does fit.