A Very Secret Service

Sadly, Americans can no longer do satire, as evidenced by the billions of sitcoms with wooden dialogue and lame in-jokes that have come and gone since the 1980s. I haven't laughed this hard in years! The authentic music, settings and clothing all help to set the stage for a truly hilarious cast of characters as they poke fun at career bureaucrats, the French colonial mindset and Franco-German relations, to name but a few.

Nostalgia is the name of the game in this amusing series pocking fun at France and its secret service. French bureaucracy is notoriously labyrinthine, even in the secret service and the first episode of the series its amazingly funny, showing the poor, disoriented Andrè trying to find his way in his new office.

Andrè's colleagues, in charge of Africa, Algeria and Eastern Europe are despicable, self-serving, arrogant men, the way French can do very well. His superior is an enigma and - apparently- his father is a priest...

Female characters are also interesting and not bi-dimensionsional, even if there is an inevitable femme fatale.

Each episode is a mere 30 minutes and develops independently, while carrying a main plot involving the higher hierarchy. Although nowadays it is impossible to watch a show without an agenda, this one is at least threading lightly and for sure it's funny.

A French agent drama set in the early sixties with a backdrop of actual historical events, in this case the cold war and Algerian liberation war. It is very enjoyable to watch, it is a very French kind of jargon and humour and I would describe it as a mix of Peter Sellers and Jaques Tati. At moments it is absolutely brilliant and hilarious.

The recreation of the 60s atmosphere is great and everything oozes a high class production. Mad Men in a French setting.

It is a funny comedy, no gore or explicit violence, that will keep you smiling and wanting more. Each episode is pretty short circa 25 min so it is perfectly digestible in chunks now and then.

A series that deserves much more attention. A hidden gem.

Very recommended watch if you are looking for an intelligent comedy

It's a shame that this excellent production has no review yet on IMDb, so i decided to go first :-)

"A very secret service" caught me by surprise. The stage are the early 1960s, relatively short after the end of WW2 and in the middle of the cold war. It's a mix of "The Office" and "Dr. Strangelove".

There is plenty of twisted, sarcastic and dark humour (at times very British). They shoot quotable one-liners like machine guns at you. I laughed my *** off many times (hint: the eastern German bathrobe).

With all the silliness they managed to create a coherent story line as well as a bunch of characters you really care about.

They mostly also use very nicely and somewhat easy to understand french, so it's good for those wanting to learn french. I'm Swiss, so i can relate well to what's going on.

Now bring on the second season, or i will get very grumpy!!

I stumbled upon this show by accident, and had never heard of it before. It really caught me by surprise, and my love for it keeps growing with every episode.

This show is whimsical and fast-paced, and you're never bored watching it. There are a lot of fun pokes at French stereotypes, as well as stereotypes surrounding the Cold War and a post-WW2 Europe.

The humor is witty and quick, with a ton of fast one-liners, comical sound effects and visual humor. The darkness of the jokes are wrapped so neatly, each one feels like a little present. It's old-school, but still modern, in its filming and editing.

Each of the characters are such glorious stereotypes, but even though they're made to look like two-dimensional characters, they're all deep and unique, and you love each of them in a special way.