Spiral (and other French police series)

[kernelbogey]

Indeed, but do they really allow so much "stuff" in French prisons? ...

Well, okay, but it is fiction! Are we really to believe that the Paris CID, barristers, the judiciary et al are as corrupt as protrayed...?

[Dave2002]

Well, okay, but it is fiction! Are we really to believe that the Paris CID, barristers, the judiciary et al are as corrupt as protrayed...?

Quite. However while I can't comment in depth on the portrayal of UK prisons on TV I think some may be fairly accurate. Example: prison scenes in Happy Valley.

I even wondered if any had been filmed inside prisons - or if the sets had been made up in a film studio. Filming or photographing inside prisons is generally a complete no-no, but maybe film companies are allowed in sometimes. I just don't know.

Then of course there was Porridge - which I never watched.

You are now raising even more doubts in my mind about what we see on TV - how much is "real", how much is "imagined" and how much is actually a complete misrepresentation.

Re Spiral - what I think I have learned - but this may be totally wrong - is that the French judicial system is very different from that in the UK.

[alywin]

Indeed, but do they really allow so much "stuff" in French prisons? I know that cuisine is important to the French community as a whole, but .....

Knowing the French, I wouldn't be entirely surprised ...

[Stunsworth]

Just finished the final series on iPlayer. Fantastic.

[Nick Armstrong]

Just finished the final series on iPlayer. Fantastic.

Stacking up on the HD recorder... currently making my way through season 2 which I realise I also didn’t watch at the time.

Very good season 1 - I felt that the plotting made it clearer why they’d chosen the title (Spiral... Engrenages... Cogs... Wheels within wheels...) - there were more interlocking storylines than I remember from later seasons, more new plots & characters introduced and lasting for maybe just 1 or 2 episodes.

Either way, totally engrossing.

[Stunsworth]

Stacking up on the HD recorder... currently making my way through season 2 which I realise I also didn’t watch at the time.

Very good season 1 - I felt that the plotting made it clearer why they’d chosen the title (Spiral... Engrenages... Cogs... Wheels within wheels...) - there were more interlocking storylines than I remember from later seasons, more new plots & characters introduced and lasting for maybe just 1 or 2 episodes.

Either way, totally engrossing.

I watched the first series a few weeks ago and felt the acting was occasionally a little wooden compared to the later ones. It could just be that they were getting used to their roles. Overall it’s been a superb journey, up there with the best of the Scandi-dramas IMHO.

[Nick Armstrong]

I watched the first series a few weeks ago and felt the acting was occasionally a little wooden compared to the later ones. It could just be that they were getting used to their roles. Overall it’s been a superb journey, up there with the best of the Scandi-dramas IMHO.

Agreed. (Mind you, Juge Roban was perfect from the start, I think, and I shall miss him in the final season....)

[DracoM]

.........and after 'Spiral', we're back to that turgid Italian claptrap for weeks of a Sat night 'noir'...........

[vinteuil]

Just finished the final series on iPlayer. Fantastic.

... yes!.

Nicely ended. The Josephine Karlsson character did become more and more absurd though.

Mme v and I have decided (after the sorbet of a few more episodes of Call My Agent) to go back to the beginning and start Spiral from series one. I don't think I joined 'til series three. It will be good to have Roban again...

.

[Nick Armstrong]

Mme v and I have decided (after the sorbet of a few more episodes of Call My Agent) to go back to the beginning and start Spiral from series one. I don't think I joined 'til series three. It will be good to have Roban again...

I’ve avoided reading your initial paragraphs as S08 not yet started.

But a very good decision re: the earliest seasons.

Approaching the end of S02 here (I think I originally started with S03 too).

This second one is genuinely tense, the jeapordy elements to the plot quite agonising sometimes... Roban brilliant and the slimy, frog-eyed machinations of Machard making one seethe...

I’ll watch the start of S03 to see whether it’s familiar... then, if so, jump to S08.

[vinteuil]

I’ve avoided reading your initial paragraphs as S08 not yet started.

... worry not - no spoilers

.

[kernelbogey]

I’ve avoided reading your initial paragraphs as S08 not yet started.

But a very good decision re: the earliest seasons.

Approaching the end of S02 here (I think I originally started with S03 too).

This second one is genuinely tense, the jeapordy elements to the plot quite agonising sometimes... Roban brilliant and the slimy, frog-eyed machinations of Machard making one seethe...

I’ll watch the start of S03 to see whether it’s familiar... then, if so, jump to S08.

I have watched from S1 to (now) halfway through S6. I fouind that I had 'come in' originally on S3 - but sufficiently long ago that it all felt new until S5 or so; but I'm still getting surprises. Wondering now whether to jump straight from the end of S6 to S8....

It is an incomparable combination of noir with superb characterisation, acting and filming; the sub-plots are magnificently handled.

As les flics often say: superb!

(Apologies for repeating words I may have written up-thread.)

[Stunsworth]

C’est fini.

For anyone who wants to see more of Audrey Fleurot, and has access to Netflix, she appears in episode 4 of the first series of Call My Agent playing herself.

[DracoM]

It will be hugely missed - well, in this household.
Partic when you see what BBC4 has in store for us next few Sats - weary, turgidly acted, unfunny, un-noir Italian claptrap.

[kernelbogey]

It will be hugely missed - well, in this household.
Partic when you see what BBC4 has in store for us next few Sats - weary, turgidly acted, unfunny, un-noir Italian claptrap.

It is possible to like both Spiral and Montalbano!