After years of reigning American series, French productions are now popular with viewers. In 2021, they occupied 46 places in the top 100 best audiences. If the greatest success goes to TF1 with HPI, France Télévisions is not left out with its Murders at, Crime at, Alex Hugo, The crime suits him so well, Cassandra, without forgetting the unspeakable Captain Marleau which however lost its title of the most watched series, in favor of HPI.
The gendarme embodied by Corinne Masiero, who switched from France 3 to France 2, has lost the faithful, recognizes Anne Holmès, but the director of French fiction at France Télévisions ensures that there is no danger in the remains: “We got these viewers on the replay, over a million! It was not a mistake to change the channel, the passage turned out to be positive.” It was Anne Holmès who put Captain Marleau on the air, like Cassandra Where The trainee interpreted by Michèle Bernier: “The thriller is only a pretext to tell a story of society, a story of the place of women in this society.”
“More than stories, we tell characters. They are mostly heroines yes, we come from afar, Navarro etc … The public being predominantly female, we went through the prism of women.”
Anne Holmès, director of French fiction at France Télévisionsto franceinfo
Big trend this year: the adaptation of novels. After Germinal and Around the world in 80 days, we are waiting on France TV The island of thirty coffins by Maurice Leblanc and Elementary particles by Michel Houellebecq: “We kept the Houellebecq spirit: history, despair, sex, even if it is suggested and not shown violently. For the first time, we have also adapted Guillaume Musso, there will be the life of Roman Gary . The public service has a heritage mission, so we regularly adapt works of our heritage to enhance it. “
At the question “What makes a good France Télé series?”, Anne Holmès replies: “The sincerity of the project. Does it speak to the brain, the heart or the guts? And it has to speak to all three! Not obvious…”