Black Spot

This French series is set in Villefranche, a remote village where the crime rate in noticeably higher than the national average. As the story begins prosecutor Franck Siriani arrives in town to investigate what is going on; he finds himself working with Major Laurène Weiss of the local Gendarmerie and her small team. They are very different characters; Siriani is allergic to just about everything and Weiss is a tough woman who, when eighteen, cut off two fingers to escape after being chained up, in the vast forest that surrounds the town, by an unknown kidnapper. Each episode tends to include a 'case of the week' as well as ongoing investigations into the disappearance of the mayor's daughter, who went missing six months before the series started, and Weiss's attempts to discover what really happened to her in the forest all those years ago.

I really enjoyed this series; early on I got a real 'Twin Peaks' vibe but thankfully this didn't turn out to be a Gallic rip-off of that great show. Yes we have a town in a heavily forested part of the country where weird, possibly supernatural, things are happening but they are dealt with in a very different way. There is a great sense of mystery in the longer term story lines as well as the episodic stories. The location provides a great atmosphere; especially the forest scenes. The characters are interesting and nicely varied and the cast does a fine job bringing these characters to life. Season two closes with questions unanswered so hopefully we will get a third season some time. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of intriguing and slightly strange mysteries.

These comments are based on watching the series in French with English subtitles.