CAUGHT IN THE "SPIRAL"

A day of life and death for the cast of the French series SPIRAL. Images: CANAL+

Following on from their huge viewing success with their two episodes a week screenings of the acclaimed murder/thriller series THE KILLING (which received huge audiences of half a million viewers a week-a record for a small digital UK channel), BBC 4 are trying the same viewing experiment, and hoping for similar success, with the new third series of the equally popular mainstream French detective series, SPIRAL, created by Alexandra Clert and Guy Patrick Sainderichin for SON ET LUMIERE productions (and which first debuted on the France station CANAL+  from 2005 onwards), about the exploits of six main characters in the volatile and intense French legal and justice system, including Police Captain Laure Berthaud (Caroline Proust), who, mired in previous problems from Season Two (including unceasing accusations of corruption and the death of one of her colleagues), tries to redeem her name during the investigation of a murdered woman found on the tracks of a disused railway station, with strong indications that there might now be a serial killer on the loose in the Northern Paris area of la Villette.

Captain Laure Berthaud (Caroline Proust) begins her murder investigation.

I have to say that I sadly, and accidentally, missed the two UK screenings of the previous series of SPIRAL (from 2006 onwards) but I heard it received excellent word of mouth reviews for its atmosphere and very intriguing characters/performances, as well as good critiques online (with several more new series already in the planning stages from CANAL+). I shall be watching Season Three and posting a review in the near future. And I'm sure it will make an excellent viewing appetiser before the much awaited return of THE KILLING later in the year...

Season One of SPIRAL is available on DVD in the UK.