BLOOD ON THE DOCKS (DEUX FLICS SUR LES DOCKS)

This is a drama you'd rather expect on ITV1 but French pubcaster France 2 aired on Friday the premiere of Deux flics sur les docks, adapted from the Faraday books by English crime fiction writer Graham Hurley.

France 2's detectives sound Brit this fall. In October the French public channel aired a new episode of Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie, adapted from Christie's books but set in 1930s France with a French sleuth. Now Graham Hurley's Portsmouth DI Joe Faraday goes Gallic in Deux flics sur les docks (Blood on the Docks). The 2 X 90-minute drama is astutely set in Le Havre, and stars actor/director Jean-Marc Barr (The Big Blue, Europa) as Capitaine Richard Faraday and Bruno Solo (Caméra Café) as Capitaine Paul Winckler. Mata Gabin plays their boss Lucie Dardenne.

In Les Anges brisés (adapted from the book Angels Passing), Richard Faraday investigates the death of a teenage girl. His former partner, maverick cop Paul Winckler, leads him on the trail of a young black boy caught by CCTV. The victim was best friend with the daughter of Bazza Swaty (Emmanuel Salinger), local entrepreneur, mobster, and a pal of Winckler. Meanwhile, Paul must team up with newbie Lieutenant Julie Fabian (Liza Manili) and Richard tries to hide his relationship with journalist Mary Devlin (Agathe Dronne) to his deaf-mute son Lulu (Jean-Marie Hallégot).

Les Anges brisés is adapted by Bernard Marié (Central Nuit/Night Squad) and directed by Edwin Baily, director of Petits Meurtres en Famille - the 2006 miniseries which spun off Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie. The choice of Jean-Marc Barr and Bruno Solo is rather original as they don't belong to the shortlist of the 5 or 6 actors usually cast in the genre on French TV. Let's hope though that Barr will bring more consistency to his empathic French Faraday (half American, like the actor) in next week's Lignes Blanches, adapted from Cut to Black. The impressive Bruno Solo, in an unusual non-comic role, steals the premiere as Winckler.

Deux flics sur les docks is produced by Gétévé (Zodiak France) and France Télévisions, with the support of Région Haute-Normandie, and is distributed by Zodiak Rights (Being Human) (1). Jacques Salles and Christian Charret are the producers and Muriel Paradis exec produce. Stéphane Moucha (Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie) is the composer. Overall a valuable effort, Les Anges brisés looks definitely like the kind of drama ITV, Sky or the Beeb could commission. France Télévisions also co-produces BBC One's Death in Paradise.

(1) http://www.zodiakrights.com/Programme.aspx?id=6402

http://www.grahamhurley.co.uk/
http://www.citeartistes.com/deux-flics-sur-les-docks.htm (In French)
http://www.adcine.com/collection-Graham-Hurley-les-anges (In French)
http://geteve.fr/en/