Un curé de choc is a French 26 x 13-minute black and white detective series produced in 1973 by pubcaster ORTF (Office de radiodiffusion-télévision française) and shown daily on its Première chaîne from July to August 1974. In January 1975, the 1st channel was renamed TF1 after ORTF was dismantled and switched to colour (1). Un curé de choc was created and written by playwright, actor and director Robert Thomas. Thomas met fame in 1960 with his murder mystery play Piège pour un homme seul, which was translated in 15 languages and almost became a film by Alfred Hitchcock for 20th Century Fox (2). His first play, Huit femmes (1958, revised in 1961), was adapted several times, including as the 2002 movie by director/scriptwriter François Ozon.
For television, Robert Thomas penned episodes of L'inspecteur Leclerc enquête (1962) and Les cinq dernières minutes (in 1967). He had the idea of the series Les enquêteurs associés (1970). Un curé de choc undoubtedly draws its inspiration from Father Brown, the creation of English author G.K. Chesterton. This amateur detective priest appeared in 53 short stories published from 1910 to 1936 and in numerous cinema, radio and TV adaptations (3). Abbot Daniel is a young priest who arrives in Châtillon-Coligny, a small town in the centre of France, to succeed Father Maximin. When the old man tells him that he has been robbed during the night, Daniel decides to investigate alongside the local gendarmerie. "Le curé de choc" (the character is credited as such) is played by the enthusiastic Jean Sagols. Philippe Arnal, who directed the whole series, noticed the actor as a priest in the TV movie Monsieur Émilien est mort (1973) and gave him the role.
Robert Thomas wrote the 26 episodes of Un curé de choc, where he also plays "Le gendarme" (4). His motorcycle riding abbot sleuth investigates (sometimes in disguise) on cases concerning the denizens of Châtillon-Coligny and its visitors like a missing husband, a vanishing groom, a woman strangled, a former inmate framed for murder or poisoned cats. In an episode, Abbot Daniel assists the police who wants him to crack a code related to drug trafficking. The regular cast includes Florence Blot (Mlle Bergomet), Raymond Jourdan (The mayor), Patrice Gérard (The postman), Gabrielle Doulcet (La mère Poucette), etc. The guest cast is composed of familiar faces from the era: Fernand Sardou (father of singer Michel Sardou), Martine Sarcey, Muriel Baptiste, Claude Rollet, Marc Lamole (La Brigade des maléfices), Pascale Petit, Raymond Bussières, Michel Le Royer, Annette Poivre (wife of Raymond Bussières), Philippe Castelli, Denise Grey, Mary Marquet, Christian Alers (5), Sylvie Joly, Pierre Doris, Jean-Marie Proslier or Anne-Marie Carrière. Actress and comedian Chantal Ladesou, well-known since, appears in a small part.
Devised by a specialist of the genre, Un curé de choc had all to be at least an enjoyable detective drama (even car stunts and a shootout). Regrettably, its episodes range from barely watchable to terrible. The plot is rushed into a 13-minute format instead of two-part stories or 26 minutes. Worse, mystery is often neglected for comedy a la Don Camillo (the films with Fernandel). Years later Terence Hill played a motocycle riding Don Camillo for a film and Don Matteo, Italy's answer to Father Brown, for television. The series soundtrack is actually library music (6) and the main title theme is Father O'Reilly by composer, guitarist, arranger and conductor Sylvano Santorio (under the pseudonym of Ike Matthews). Alain Poinsot is the sound illustrator. Maurice Tournier is the head of production. Video editing by James Bridge. Louis Miaille is the director of photography. Main title design and animation by Jean-Pierre Sornin.
« Les voies de Dieu sont impénétrables. » In the 1982 erotic comedy movie Mon curé chez les nudistes, directed and written by Robert Thomas, Paul Préboist plays a priest named Father Daniel. The following year, Thomas did Mon curé chez les Thaïlandaises with Maurice Risch as Father Maximin. There was an Abbé Maximin in the play Piège pour un homme seul so call that the "Thomasverse". Jean Sagols became a director and helmed a string of hit miniseries known as the "Sagas de l'été" (Le vent des moissons, Orages d'été...) for TF1. Un curé de choc is available in France on Madelen, the SVOD platform of INA.
(2) Piège pour un homme seul was adapted for television as One of My Wives is Missing (1976) and Vanishing Act (1986), among others.
(3) The most recent adaptation is the BBC TV series Father Brown, starring Mark Williams. It exists since 2013.
(4) As such in the credits and called "Eugène" in Episode 18. Oddly, there's a "Eugène Martinez as Le gendarme" in the end credits of some episodes. Is Eugène Martinez the name of the character played by Robert Thomas or/and an actor? Un curé de choc is the only IMDb credit of Martinez.
