The Madame Blanc Mysteries on Acorn TV WILL be back with season 2, again following antiques dealer Jean White in her quest to find out more about her husband’s death.
If you’re late coming to the show, which was first shown on and Channel 5, here’s everything you need to know about it.
Read More: The Madame Blanc Mysteries: Channel 5 and Acorn TV drama will be back with season 2!
What is The Madame Blanc Mysteries about?
Jean is a renowned and respected antiques dealer running a successful business in leafy Cheshire with her husband, Rory.
We meet Jean on a rainy morning in Manchester, overcome with grief as she learns that Rory has tragically died on his way home from their vintage treasure-trove stomping grounds in the South of France.
Things take a dark turn for poor Jean when she discovers that along with her husband expiring, all of their money has disappeared. Rory has secretly re-mortgaged their shop to the hilt and pawned off their assets.
With the final thousands in their joint account ironically spent on Rory’s funeral, Jean’s life is set adrift… until her solicitor informs her of one thing her beloved did not sell: their cottage in the French antiques hub, Sainte Victoire.
When Jean’s solicitor informs her that an expensive ring is also missing from his personal effects, Jean instantly feels that something is amiss and sets off to the site of the crash in Sainte Victoire, the epicentre for antiques.
Will Jean get the answers she is searching for?
Who is in the cast of the show?
Sally Lindsay leads the cast as Jean White.
From a modest Northern background, Jean has always been fascinated by the past.
Over time, she has become one of the most respected antique dealers in the business.
When Jean moves to Sainte Victoire, her acute observational skills with antiques spill over to help the local police solve crimes, something which she absolutely excels at.
Sally Lindsay shot to fame in the early 2000s as Shelley Unwin in Coronation Street, which she starred in for over 400 episodes.
Since then, she wrote and starred in the series Scott and Bailey with Suranne Jones.
She’s also starred as Lisa in Mount Pleasant and Kath in Still Open All Hours.
Sue Vincent plays Gloria Beauchamp in the show.
Gloria runs the local mechanics in Sainte Victoire with her son Xav.
Sue is known for playing Margaret in Mount Pleasant.
Sue is also known for her recurring roles in Coronation Street and Shameless.
She’s recently starred in Alma’s Not Normal as Trish.
Steve Edge plays Dom on the Acorn TV show. Dom is Sainte Victoire’s resident cab driver and general handyman.
You’ll probably recognise Steve Edge as Billy Dawson from Benidorm.
He starred alongside Peter Kay as Alan in Phoenix Nights.
He’s also known for his roles in Starlings and Scarborough.
He was recently featured in the Channel 5 series Maxine as Brian Farmer, the journalist who interviewed Ian Huntley and spotted his odd behaviour.
Sue Holderness plays Judith Lloyd-James, the lady of the Manor.
But the seemingly perfect Judith has secrets too.
You’re bound to recognise Sue Holderness as Marlene in Only Fools and Horses and in the spin-off, The Green Green Grass.
You might also recognise her as Maggie from the BBC series Dear John.
Sue recently played Estelle Jones in a stint on EastEnders.
The Madame Blanc Mysteries cast…
Robin Askwith plays Jeremy Lloyd-James in the show.
Jeremy is the stereotypical upper-class character who has lived in the French village for over 20 years with his wife Judith.
He’s probably best known as Timothy Lee in the Confessions film series. He starred as the character in 5 films.
You might also recognise him as Larry Prodworthy from the 1973 film Carry on Girls.
His most recent television roles include Hollyoaks, Emmerdale and Benidorm.
Alex Gaumond plays Gendarme Caron in the show.
Caron is head of the local Police Station in Sainte Victoire.
Alex Gaumond has had quite a few TV guest star roles including Death in Paradise.
He also played a waiter in a memorable scene in the Anne Hathaway movie Hustlers.
Alex recently featured in the final season of Derry Girls in the school reunion episode, playing the American Rob.
Alaïs Lawson plays Claudette, Dom’s daughter.
Claudette has spent most of her life in Sainte Victoire.
She is protective of her father, Dom and close to her best friend Xavier.
Alaïs’ first big role was on the Netflix drama Collateral.
Alaïs also had some small roles in Grantchester and London Kills.
You might also recognise her from the epiX mini-series Domina, she played Marcella in the show.
David Hecter plays Xavier Beauchamp, Gloria’s son.
Xav has lived in Sainte Victoire all his life with his single mother. Throughout the series, we see Xavier struggle with a gambling addiction.
David has previously guest-starred in series Riviera and DI Ray.
He’s next set to star in Paramount+ series The Blue.
Who else is in the cast?
Margeaux Lampley plays Celine Connor.
Celine runs “La Couronne” with her husband Niall and is from Sainte Victoire.
Margeaux Lampley mainly has French television credits to her name but she also works as a voice artist in a lot of video games!
She’s provided voice work for games such as Vertigo, Blacksad: Under the Skin and Song of Horror.
Aonghus Weber stars as Niall in the show, the joint owner of pub La Couronne with his wife Celine.
Niall was originally from Dublin but settled in Sainte Victoire after an injury which ended a sporting career.
Aonghus is best known for starring in the Irish language soap Ros na Rún.
Sanchia McCormack plays Charlie Brodeur, the owner of the local pawn shop.
Sanchia had previously featured in a few episodes of EastEnders as DC Sally Booth.
You might also recognise her from her guest starring roles in Silent Witness, The Crown and Broadchurch.
She’s also featured in Doctor Who and Sex Education in small roles.
Djinda Kane plays Simone Brodeur, Charlie’s wife.
Simone and Charlie are close as Charlie keeps up with Simones’ young and hip style.
Djinda is also best known on French television.
You might recognise her from Netflix‘s drama series Marseilles, Djinda played Rubi in the show.
She also starred in the film Uncorked as Mélanie.
Who has guest starred on the show?
Felicity Du Jeu features as Adele Berger, the PA to Judith and Jeremy, you might recognise her as DC Stella Goodman from Waking The Dead.
The second episode of the show features a special guest star – Paul Chuckle. He appears as Gloria’s father Trevor.
One half of the Chuckle Brothers, the comedy duo rose to fame for their children’s programme ChuckleVision.
Paul has also been in Benidorm.
Paul O’Grady also has a special appearance on the show!
Doctors actress Olivia Caffrey guests star as Barbara and Peter Gaynor features as Rory White.
Who writes The Madame Blanc Mysteries?
Sally Lindsay and Sue Vincent are co-creators of The Madame Blanc Mystery series.
Sally Lindsay came up with the concept of the show whilst behind the scenes of Still Open All Hours.
She says: “Me and Johnny Vegas set up an office to work in at Pinewood Studios. I came up with The Madame Blanc Mysteries while waiting for my scenes!”
Sally was also inspired by the bigamy storyline she was involved with in Coronation Street, which she’d always wanted to explore further.
She also wondered if she could channel her love of antiques into the project.
She created Jean White, a widowed antiques dealer who travels to the French village of Sainte Victoire to sort out her husband’s affairs.
Once Sally and production companies got the green light for the series from Channel 5, she enlisted writing partner Sue Vincent to co-write the scripts together.
“When Sally told me the idea for the show, it was complete, utter, instant love!” says Sue.
“I wrote the first 20 pages straight away – we had such a vision of the world we wanted to create. It was the biggest blessing to be able to write such a bright, warm show during extraordinary times.”
Sally and Sue are teaming up once again to write the second season of the show.
Where is The Madame Blanc Mysteries on Acorn TV set and where is it filmed?
The Madame Blanc Mysteries is set in France in the village of Sainte Victoire.
In real life, Montagne Sainte Victoire is a limestone mountain ridge in the South of France which extends over 18 km, with villages such as Vauvenargues providing inspiration for the show’s setting.
Although mainly set in France the series was actually filmed on the islands of Malta and Gozo.
Producer Andy Morgan shares this about turning Malta into the South of France: “I was always confident that we could create Sainte Victoire on Gozo. Once I set foot in the square there, it just felt absolutely right.
“We had our church, our police station and our pub – create some shop signs, dot some French cars around and you’re there if you use clever framing.
“When shooting we would close the square so that we could drive cars on the other side of the road, and simple things like that work really well.”
How many episodes of the show are there?
The first series of The Madame Blanc Mysteries on Acorn TV has six episodes, each an hour long.
The second season will continue with a Christmas special this December, and six other episodes will air in 2023.
What is The Madame Blanc Mysteries theme song?
If you’ve wondered what the theme tune for The Madame Blanc Mysteries is – here’s your answer!
The theme tune is Passing Through by Hague and White.
Sally Lindsay’s husband musician Steve White also wrote the score for the whole show!
Everything to know about the Jean White character
From a modest Northern background, Jean has always been fascinated by the past.
Over time she has become one of the most respected Antique dealers in the business.
Her eye for detail is almost Sherlockian, using a unique method of deduction, breaking down the different elements of the antique and by a process of elimination, eventually pinpointing the origins of even the most unusual treasures.
When Jean moves to Sainte Victoire, her acute observation skills with antiques inevitably spill over to help the local police solve crimes, something which, to her complete surprise she absolutely excels.
Where can I watch The Madame Blanc Mysteries?
The Madame Blanc Mysteries is available on AcornTV, so if you have a subscription with the streaming platform you can watch it there!
The first series also aired on Channel 5, and the second series will too.
You can catch re-runs on Channel 5 and on My5 too!
The show is also available to buy on Amazon Prime.
The Madame Blanc Mysteries will return this December with a Christmas special on Channel 5.
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