Acorn TV’s hit series The Madame Blanc Mysteries has succeeded because of its warm, inviting setting (a village in the south of France, but shot in Malta) plus the warm found family feeling amongst the main cast. Its mysteries are mostly decent, too. In the show’s new two-part Christmas special, the cast finds themselves in quite the pickle inside Sainte Victoire’s stately art museum.
Opening Shot: A shot of the La Couronne restaurant on Christmas Eve.
The Gist: Jean White (Sally Lindsay) is sitting with Jeremy and Judith Lloyd James (Robin Askwith, Sue Holderness) for a quick drink; Gloria (Sue Vincent), the town mechanic and co-owner of the restaurant, notices that everyone is dressed up. Apparently, the new curator of the local art museum, Gabriel Jelbart (Bartholomew Boutellis) invited the Lloyd Jameses, who are on the board, to come see a spectacular but mysterious new artifact they have acquired, and Jelbart specifically asked them to invite Jean, an antiques expert. Jean’s fiancé, Dom Hayes (Steve Edge) takes them all there in his cab.
Also at the unveiling is Dr. Ali Pardeep (Raji James) and his wife Sangita (Manjinder Virk); the doctor is in charge of a charity which helps prisoners express themselves via art. Also there is George Alfonse (John Thomson) and his wife Aurielle (Kacey Ainsworth); he’s a former soft drink magnate who is about to donate 10 million euros to the museum based on this find of Gabriel’s. Accompanying Gabriel is his new boyfriend Yves Condu (Thierry Picaut).
While everyone is making introductions, someone sneaks into the museum and forces the guard Suzanne (Mara Vella) to lock all the security gates. When Suzanne tries to resist, the intruder kills her. So now everyone is locked in, with no way out.
When Gabriel, with the help of Yves, bring out their new find, they ask Jean to confirm what it is; she says it’s an ornate box that was once owned by Marie Antionette. But everyone’s shocked when Jean opens the box and there’s a block of Semtex, connected to a detonator set to go off in just under 90 minutes.
Photo: Mark Cassar/AcornTV
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? As we’ve said in almost every review of this show, pick a “cozy mystery” series on Acorn TV (or BritBox, or PBS) and it will be similar to The Madame Blanc Mysteries. We’re talking shows like the various Miss Fisher series, to My Life Is Murder, to Agatha Raisin. Fans of Murder, She Wrote would also love this show.
Our Take: While Lindsay and Vincent, who co-created The Madam Blanc Mysteries and co-write every episode, try to give viewers interesting mysteries that are generally solved via Jean’s knowledge of antiquities, the key to the series has always been the chemistry and warmth of the main cast. This is especially apparent during this Christmas special, even though the group’s lives are at stake through the episode, with Gloria, Uncle Patrick (Tony Robinson) and Caron (Alex Gaumond) outside the museum, desperately trying to get to the group before the bomb goes off.
This is a pretty classic mystery where everyone is stuck in one place, and as things go along, more people are killed. But what it comes down to is that, for some reason, the people who planted the bomb also planted a note for Jean, a riddle that she’s best suited to solve in order to put in a code that will stop the bomb’s countdown timer. So while the group is split up, trying to find the answer to the riddle somewhere in the museum, they also know that the killer is somewhere inside with them.
There are some interpersonal dynamics among the new characters, the Pardeeps and the Alfonses, and the Lloyd Jameses are always good for some slight comedy relief revolving around their senior citizen randiness Judith’s desire to keep her Champagne topped off at all times. But as the timer gets down to last few minutes and reality sets in, there are even some heartfelt moments between people you don’t usually see that kind of stuff from.
Photo: Mark Cassar/AcornTV
Performance Worth Watching: Alex Gaumond stands out in this episode; Garon, the local police chief, has a very dark backstory but he’s also a dedicated cop and what he ends up doing to try to get inside — explore bomb shelter tunnels under the museum with Gloria’s help — adds a layer of adventure to this story.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: We find out who decided to plant that bomb at the museum and leave the riddle for Jean to solve.
Sleeper Star: John Thomson does a good job of making George Alfonse a total prat at the beginning of the special, but one that’s in some pretty apparent pain.
Most Pilot-y Line: When the nervous young cater waiter Ellie (Jacqueline Moré) spills Champagne on George’s shirt, he actually asks her if she’s stupid.
Our Call: STREAM IT. The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas Special still provides “cozy mystery” vibes despite an added element of a race against time. Yes, you know everyone in the main cast will survive, but that doesn’t take away from watching everyone try to figure out how to get out of the pickle they’re in.
How To Watch The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas Special
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Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
