The Spiral

Well a good afternoon, a Boro win albeit in difficult circumstances, and to look forward this evening the Spiral. This is a TV series set in Paris, but this is not the Paris of the Eiffel Tower but the gritty Paris of the suburbs and underworld. The well-known tourist sites of Notre Dame and Montmartre do not appear at all. The weather is usually rainy and the whole thing seems to be filmed in a sort of washed out grey, no tourist advert for Paris. Oh no you think this is just another Nordic drama knock-off like The Killing. But no the Spiral pre-dates our Nordic Noir trendiness, this was the original sub-titled police procedural piece broadcast on a Saturday Evening. It is now on the fifth series, and is I believe the most widely sold French language TV programme of all time. If you have the opportunity give it a go.

It is also fascinating as an insight into French society, particularly the working of the judicial system. The way that crime is investigated in France is completely different to the Anglo-Saxon model of justice. Here the case is directed and indeed propelled by an investigating magistrate. He seems to manage the police and directly interrogate the witnesses and protagonists.  Now I don’t know how true it is but there also seems to be a good deal of corruption.

The similarity with the Nordic dramas are that there are very strong female leads, the lead police officer is a woman, who for once is not glamorous but who is trying to undertake a difficult job while possessing many human weaknesses. The actress while being slight dominates her male colleagues yet displays huge frailties. This is contrasted with a lawyer who is indeed very glamorous, but again manipulates those around her and the law to achieve her own ends.

I am not sure how you get hold of this outside of the UK where it is available through the usual BBC websites, in French it is I think it is tilled Les Engrenages and it is in its fifth series. It definitely makes Saturday night viewing worth waiting for. It also probably gives a more realistic background to the current events in France, showing a pronounced underclass and a disaffected use against a broken state system that is quite repressive.

Right that’s is it I am off to view episodes 3 and 4.