The Madame Blanc Mysteries

Why are the 'couch potato reviewers' on here so cruel when sharing their views? This is as well written, filmed and acted as Any formulaic detective series on TV these days... and in the hands of seasoned actors like these, better than some. Always give a new series 2 or 3 episodes before you make a judgement, a lot of talented creatives worked very hard to bring some much needed entertainment to us... If you can't say something nice, shut the feck up!

I like Sally Lindsay as an actress. She's great at comedy, drama and comedy drama. I particularly loved her in Sky series Mount Pleasant. I also think she's great in the Madame Blanc Mysteries which she also created and produced.

In this show she plays Jean White, an antiques dealer whose husband has died in a car accident in the south of France. She travels to the village of St Victoire to initially pick up his belongings and do the usual after-death admin, but begins to suspect it wasn't a car accident. It also comes out that he may have been leading a double life whilst away seemingly on antique buying trips. Alongside this, Jean manages to get involved with the local Gendarme when various incidents - murders, theft, art forgeries and more occur in this beautiful French (actually filmed in Malta and Gozo but who cares? It makes for a beautiful sunny backdrop) village.

The supporting characters include Dom, a fellow Brit single dad who becomes her sidekick and friend, as well as a mixture of "Brits Abroad" - Sue Holderness and Robin Askwith as the posh owners of the chateau are particularly funny, the local garage owner and her son, the Irish pub landlord and his wife, as well as native locals all adding their quirks and dramas of their own to the mix.

If you're looking for gritty and dark murder drama this show isn't for you. To me its kind of a mix of Death in Paradise and Agatha Raisin, but also has its own thing going on. The mysteries are engaging enough, and there are some quite interesting twists, and there is plenty of humour mixed in along the way.

This show kind of slipped under the radar until I saw a promo for it whilst streaming another show from Channel 5 and decided to give it a go. I don't regret it. Its one of those shows that's just fun to watch and I hope we get more series.

I really enjoyed this. I got an Agatha Raison vibe at first but just on the blonde vivacious detective similarities.

I liked the older characters.. I did find it weird that there were so many british expats in this French town but then again I expect they hang out together in real life as well.

I wasn't sure about her detecting at first but then went with her intuitive flow as well as her expertise solving the day.

It was fun. I hope there are more series.

Really enjoying this comedy-drama-mystery so far. It's great to have a show written by and predominately starring over 50s that is clean enough for all generations to watch together. I wish the younger characters were a bit more inspiring eg have more interest in their work and the all-age community. The leading lady and man are absolutely lovely together. Plus I love bi-lingual shows, should be more of those on TV, as so many places/groups are.

If you can get through the first episode and like it, you're probably good for the season. As characters are introduced, we are taken into a world where there's not much room for believability or a truly plausible mystery.

Instead, this show is more of the Matlock/Murder She Wrote/Charlie's Angels school, which is simple, easy, stagy, and at times making attempts to be mildly humorous. I appreciate the advanced age of the cast, because old people have adventures too, although one might speculate perhaps the star/creator/writer chose her cast in part because so many are obviously older than her.

One might wonder, though, why the characters of Judith and Jeremy, both played by actors in their seventies, are so broadly and loudly portrayed. Evidently the two actors are TV veterans, not the stage, and yet they play their parts like community theater actors trying to get noticed by someone in the back row. They need to rein it in a little, imo.

My wife and I are both fans of British crime dramas such as Line of Duty, Dalgliesh and Manhunt, maybe some Grantchester thrown in as well, but we found this more frivolous variety of "mystery" unwatchable. It is to mysteries what Doc Martin is to medical shows, except that Doc Martin is quite entertaining, well written and very well acted.