The 10 Best French Crime Dramas Of All Time

Paris Police 1905 cast: who are the characters in season 2?

Spiral finds a new home in the UK

BBC Four confirms transmission date for Paris Police 1905

SERIES REVIEW Astrid: Murder In Paris (S1)

One of the most talked-about crime dramas of the year.

Astrid: Murder In Paris transmission date revealed by Walter Presents

Stand by for a new French series – Astrid: Murder In Paris – which became a huge hit in its native France and introduced viewers to an intriguing investigative partnership.

When Commander Raphaëlle Coste (Lola Dewaere) visits the police records bureau in search of information for one of her enquiries, she has no idea that she is about to have a life-changing encounter.

The brilliant young Astrid is autistic and a living encyclopaedia of criminal investigations. She has Asperger’s, which makes her very original and rather finicky in some situations. The Commander is investigating a bizarre suicide involving a Colonel who burnt himself alive: the complexities of which require a divergent approach to analysing the evidence which may point to the wrong conclusion. When Astrid gives Raphaëlle a helping hand, the two realize that their perfectly complementary skills are the key to solving cases despite, or even because of, their differences.

Astrid: Murder In Paris: Friday 21st October, 9pm, More4

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US streaming service inks deal with Studiocanal for Spiral

Big news for our US readers.

We’re often asked by those living in America where they can watch beloved, hit French crime drama, Spiral.

Now news has reached us that all eight series of the superior detective drama will be coming soon to an American screen near you.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that the MHZ Choice streaming service has inked a deal with French network Studiocanal to broadcast not only Spiral but also last year’s Paris Police 1900 (which came third in our crime dramas of the year).

“The big winners in this deal are the MHz Choice viewers who have a voracious appetite for high-quality, smart and entertaining French programming, the kind that we can count on from Studiocanal,” a spokesperson for the streaming service said.

READ MORE: ALL OUR NEWS AND REVIEWS OF SPIRAL

READ MORE: OUR REVIEWS OF PARIS POLICE 1900

The Crimson Rivers season 3 announced by Walter Presents

Detective Pierre Niémans and his partner Camille Delauney are to return for a third season of French crime drama The Crimson Rivers on More4/Walter Presents.

The series kicks off with a double episode as they investigate a series of gruesome murders in remote regions of France.  

In this seven-episode third instalment, the pair is confronted with more complex cases of atrocious brutality.

They discover a horrific double murder in the church of a small Belgian village which takes them to the sinister world of neo-pagan rituals and leather tannery. The duo tracks down a serial killer who chooses his next victim based on the order of the zodiac calendar. They must also stop a psychopath threatening to infest all of Paris with a deadly plague. And when an inmate is severely injured and Niémans ends up on the other side of the prison wall, Delauney must risk everything to rescue her mentor. Will their bond remain strong enough to keep their sanity?

The Crimson Rivers (s3): From Friday 25th March, 9pm, More4

SERIES REVIEW The Promise (S1)

From the creators of Spiral…

BBC Four confirms transmission date for French crime drama The Promise

BBC Four is back with some new crime drama.

French series The Promise (La Promesse) will debut in just over a week on the channel. As well as Scandi Noir, BBC Four has a long and favoured history with French crime drama thanks to recent hits Spiral and Paris Police 1900.

And The Promise does have a connection to Spiral – showrunner Anne Landois is also in charge of this series, too.

The story is set in the heart of Landes, during the great storm of 1999. During that tumultuous event, an 11-year-old girl – Charlotte Meyer – disappears. Police chief Pierre Castaing (Olivier Marchal) is tapped to head the investigation. But when he must release the chief suspect because of a lack of evidence, Castaing is left deeply shaken by his failure to find the girl and becomes ostracised by the local community as his family falls apart.

Elsewhere, young investigator Sarah (Sofia Essaïdi) finds herself confronted with another disappearance of a young girl involving the same suspect.

Here’s a French-language trailer to give you a flavour of the six-episode series.

The Promise: From Saturday 12th February, 9pm, BBC Four