Murder & mystery in Madam Blanc Mysteries Christmas special

The Madam Blanc Mysteries, created by and starring Sally Lindsay (Mount Pleasant, Cold Call), returns to Acorn TV for a Chistmas special.

Set in the French village of Saint Victoire (but filmed in Malta due to COVID restrictions), the special sees renowned antiques dealer Jean White (Lindsay) solving murders and mysteries.

Also featuring are co-writer Sue Vincent (Mount Pleasant, Shameless) as Jean’s friend Gloria, Steve Edge (Cruella, Murder They Hope) as Jean’s close friend and local cabbie Dom, Sue Holderness (Only Fools and Horses) as flirtatious, local gossip purveyor Judith, and Robin Askwith (Confessions) as Jeremy, Judith’s adoring husband. Tony Robinson (Time Team) guest stars as Dom’s Uncle Patrick in the holiday special.

Seeason 2 will also launch in 2023.

Sally Lindsay answered these questions for TV Tonight:

• Christmas specials are always such a part of British TV traditions, how did you approach the idea of injecting festive fun into The Madam Blanc Mysteries?

SL: We knew we wanted it to be true to the area, so I knew it wasn’t going to be wooly jumpers and snow, that was never going to happen because it’s the south of France and it’s not wooly jumpers and snow in the winter, it’s bright sunshine and peaceful. I wanted to make it as Christmassy as possible but without the usual winter look you’d get in a British one. It’s still very stunning and very gorgeous, there’s choirs, there’s presents, there’s Christmas trees, there’s traditions in it, it’s family meeting up that’s not seen each other in forever, there’s all those sort of tropes that go with it but there’s also this really, really quite dark mystery going on right in the middle of it but then there’s a really brilliant lovely Christmas ending which I’m really proud of in the square and that looks really beautiful. Even though there’s not a whiff of snow, it’s still very lovely, it’s very Christmassy.

• What’s the set-up for the mystery this time around and what obstacles are likely to impede Jean White?

SL: Without giving too much of the plot away, what’s happened is, Caron, unfortunately his wife gets murdered, and he’s accused of it and it’s looking pretty damn likely that he has done it because there was no love lost between them, they were going to get a divorce anyway and they really weren’t getting on, so all the fingers are pointing at Caron. He’s only got one hope, he’s only got Jean to help him because there’s no evidence of anybody else and to add to his obstacles, if that’s the question, the person who’s investigating the murder, he’s someone from Caron’s past that he didn’t go well with, so the investigating officer, I won’t give too much away, is the last person he wants investigating him, if I can put it like that. It’s really good actually because we see another side of Caron that we’ve not seen, very vulnerable, very scared man and Alex plays him brilliantly, he’s done brilliantly with it, we’re really happy with that.

• What was the most fun you had during the shoot?

SL: We had a lot of obstacles this shoot because the island was open, in the first series the island was closed and we were literally the only ones on it, so it was pretty damn COVID free even though we were working in very strict restrictions, we couldn’t see each other at night and stuff but it was still, you know, we went to work, and nobody had it. This time we had lots of obstacles; people getting COVID, the island was open, we had to film it in summer because they wanted a Christmas special and it was absolutely boiling, some days it was 40, 42 degrees and that’s very difficult to film in. Having said that, because of the absolute gorgeousness of my crew and cast, everyday was a joy, just an absolute joy. What was lovely about this series is, because the island was open again, I could get British actors over, so I’ve got lots of old friends of mine playing the guest leads, which I’m not allowed to divulge too much, but for example Tony Robinson is in the Christmas special, we all know him for Blackadder obviously, and lots of other things, but he’s such a dear man and he’s absolutely brilliant in it. That was a joy, getting some of my old friends, brilliant actors over to do it. We laugh all the time, me and Steve Edge have known each other since Phoenix Nights, over 25 years ago we did that. We laugh most of the day, it’s quite exhausting working with Steve Edge actually, he’s one of the funniest men in the world and I adore him, so we laugh a lot, it’s always a joy. Because we’re all friends as well, and Dermot (Boyd) and Sean (Van Hales), my director and DOP, they worked for years with me on Mount Pleasant, so I’ve known them for years, it really is a family affair. Robin (Askwith) is an absolute nutter, and Sue (Holderness) just hysterical, they’re hysterical on screen and they’re hysterical off screen, the pair of them. It’s giants of British television and film but so funny as well, so I’m very lucky, it’s a day-to-day thing, we have a gorgeous time.

• Mysteries comprise a crowded genre, what separates your show from the others?

SL: I think it’s humour, because it’s very funny and the people are funny, and we never want to take that out. Even in the darkest of dramas you always find humour and I think I probably couldn’t write anything if it wasn’t a little bit funny. I think that’s probably what separates us, makes you want to watch it. Not saying it’s a comedy because I wouldn’t say it is, but it can be very warm and very funny and I think that’s what separates us from a lot of murder mysteries and you just desperately want to be with those characters all the time, which is what I wanted, to create that kind of escapism.

• Any theories on why women make up a large part of the audience for the mystery genre?

SL: You know what, I don’t know about that, I didn’t even know that was true. You see this is my argument for years, when we were trying to get Scott and Bailey made, we had a lot of resistance because you know they said, “where’s our male lead, where’s the person women want to look at, want to fancy?” and I kept insisting, “listen, women like to watch women, and women like to watch women who look like them” and the thing about Jean is, I’m 49 now, and I look like, you know, a normal woman and women like that because they can see themselves in the character and I think that’s probably the reason really, because women like watching women and they control the remote control most of the time. I think that’s probably why, I don’t know. It’s an interesting question, I’m sure there’s a very clever answer but I haven’t got it.

• How do you juggle the roles of exec producer / creator and star when filming is underway? Is it a challenge to let go?

SL: I’m very good, what I’ve taught myself is delegation, obviously I have to have a final check on stuff, but the trick is to employ people who are really good at their jobs and let them do it. I’m not a control freak like that. Dermot gave me some brilliant advice, he said “look if you get 85% of what’s in your head on screen, it’s an absolute win.” So instead of like going, “no it’s got to be 100%, no that’s not green or that’s not…” I let stuff go and it’s always great anyway. So that’s how I do it, unless I’m really, really persnickety about stuff, I think Sue’s (Vincent) worse than me, but I think if it’s basically around the ballpark of what we want and it looks like that and it looks great, than the audience will believe it. If it’s believable to me, I’m happy and I think that’s also about delegation, employing the right people, having the right team.

• The locations look to be a big part of the show’s appeal.

SL: The trick is it’s not in France, the reason it’s not in France initially was because of COVID so we couldn’t, it was commissioned and it [France] was just as bad as England at the time and there was no way we could have filmed it in France, we would have been a year behind and Malta was open for filming. When I went over to the recce just before, we were the last people out of Malta, because it did shut down for a little bit and then it did open again for us. We’d heard that a lot of Hollywood films were filmed there, so parts of Gladiator, lots of rom-coms, French rom-coms, supposed to be French but there not. It was basically a chameleon island, it looks like parts of the Med, so when I was convinced about that I thought, well this is great, lets do it here. The crew’s there, everywhere driving is 20 minutes to every location, the people are fantastic, they desperately want you to be there to work. It’s a big thing on the island now, Madame Blanc, which is fantastic and that’s why we made that decision, but the initial decision was because of COVID, as we couldn’t have filmed it in France, there was no way, it was riddled like England was and Malta wasn’t.

• What’s next for fans of The Madam Blanc Mysteries?

SL: Tighter, funnier, more interesting mysteries. I’ve really honed the formula, you’ve got an hour of television where you want to have a glass of wine or a cup of tea with your friends, you feel like your friends are on screen, also there’s a really good mystery to guess that. That’s what I’ve hopefully provided for the fans. I’m so unbelievably proud that we have so many fans and its done so unbelievably well, I can’t tell you how happy that makes me because we absolutely love doing it, we love every minute of doing it, everybody wants to come back to Madame Blanc and wants to be with us doing it and no one has ever turned me down, actor wise, like “oh don’t know if I fancy that”, everybody has come. It’s such a joy that the audience can see that, and they feel that, and it spills over the screen. I can’t say thank you enough to all the fans, it’s just amazing!

The Madame Blanc Mysteries is directed by Dermot Boyd (Mount Pleasant). Executive producers are Lindsay, Mike Benson (Cold Call) for Clapperboard, Caroline Roberts-Cherry (The World According to Grandpa) for Saffron Cherry and Catherine Mackin and Lesley Pemberton for Acorn Media Enterprises. The series is filmed on location in Malta and Gozo.

Monday December 26 on Acorn TV.