The Madame Blanc Mysteries season 2 is on its way to our screens, including a Christmas special!
The Madame Blanc Mysteries season 1 saw Jean White (Sally Lindsay) learning of her husband's death in a car crash on his way back from an antique-buying trip to the picturesque village of Sainte Victoire in the south of France, followed by the revelation that his shady financial dealings had left her penniless.
Despite a fear of traveling and an inability to speak French, Jean set off to Sainte Victoire to investigate the mystery of her husband's death, and found herself a new home in the local community, using her antiques expertise to help local police chief Caron (Alex Gaumond) investigate crimes.
The first season ended with Jean confronting estate agent Barbara — who she had identified as "the other Mrs White" who had been having an affair with her husband — and narrowly escaping with her life. Jean's determined to make a new start in Sainte Victoire, but is her late husband's duplicity still set to cause chaos?
Here's everything we know about the new series...
The Madame Blanc Mysteries season 2 and Christmas special start date
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas Special airs on Thursday, December 22 at 9pm on Channel 5 in the UK. Season 2 begins on Thursday, January 5 at 9pm on Channel 5.
The Madame Blanc Mysteries airs internationally on Acorn TV. The Christmas Special will be available on Acorn TV in late December, and season 2 will be released in 2023.
The Madame Blanc Mysteries season 2 cast
All of the Saint Victoire regulars are back for season 2: creator and co-writer Sally Lindsay returns as Jean White, with her co-writer Sue Vincent playing local mechanic Gloria. Steve Edge is back as Dom, local taxi driver and Jean's close confidant, and Sue Holderness and Robin Askwith return as wealthy expats Judith and Jeremy Lloyd James.
Other returning cast members include Alex Gaumond as police chief Caron, Aonghus Weber as local publican Niall, Margeaux Lampley as his wife Celine, a former Eurovision contestant, Olivia Caffrey as the duplicitous Barbara, Sanchia McCormack as Jean's fellow antique expert Charlie Brodeur, and Djinda Kane as Charlie's wife Simone.
The Madame Blanc Mysteries season 2 guest cast
An assortment of stars will be joining Jean and the gang in Sainte Victoire for season two, including:
- Tony Robinson (Blackadder)
- Lee Boardman (Enola Holmes 2)
- Jennifer James (Coronation Street)
- Julia Montgomery Brown (London Has Fallen) - returning guest from season one
- Clelia Murphy (Fair City) - returning guest from season one
- Harriet Thorpe (Absolutely Fabulous)
- Les Dennis (Coronation Street)
- David Ames (Holby City)
- Alexander Newland (Leopoldstadt)
- Paul Chuckle (ChuckleVision) - returning guest from season one
- Clive Russell (Code 404)
- Jacqueline Boatswain (Carnival Row)
Is there a trailer for The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special?
Yes! And as you can see from the clip below, there is plenty of 'merriment, mistletoe and murder' coming up in the Christmas special...
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special plot
It's Christmas in Sainte Victoire, Jean is looking forward to spending it with her new friends, and Dom's Uncle Patrick is coming to stay. But there's trouble brewing...
Chief of Police Andre Caron's wife is brutally murdered, and the finger is pointing squarely at him. The investigator on the case, Inspector Gauthier, holds a personal grudge and is intent on bringing Caron down. Caron begs Jean to clear his name, and she is quickly pulled into the world of international art dealing, where all is not what it seems. Can Jean persuade Inspector Gauthier that Caron is innocent and bring the real murderer to justice?
Meanwhile, Dom's Uncle Patrick and his grandson Archie are visiting for Christmas, and Jeremy and Judith are staging a Christmas Grotto to raise money for the Sainte Victoire Theatre.
Uncle Patrick is a reformed career thief, but he quickly finds the inhabitants of Sainte Victoire have plenty to tempt him back to his old ways! Locals' wallets go missing, and everyone in La Couronne is too distracted by Jeremy and Judith's disastrous grotto to notice Uncle Patrick steal Celine's precious music box — the last memory she has of her father.
Frustrated by their failed Christmas Grotto, Jeremy and Judith are persuaded by Gloria to run a Secret Santa to raise money for the theatre instead. Everyone will exchange presents in La Couronne on Christmas Eve!
When Dom accidentally tells Archie about his grandfather's past in jail, Archie is shocked — even more so when he discovers that Uncle Patrick has stolen the music box. Can Archie help him back on the right path in time for Christmas?
The Madame Blanc Mysteries season 2 episode guide
Episode 1: [December 22 2022] Christmas Special
Episode 2: [January 5 2023] Jean and Charlie are preparing to open their new antiques shop, but the celebration is interrupted by the news that Jeremy has been taken to the police station. The body of a young woman was found on the deck of his and Judith's cabin cruiser. Worried that Jeremy was having an affair and has murdered his mistress, Judith begs Jean for help. The only clue is a Victorian comb that was in the dead woman's pocket. Can Jean identify the victim and get Jeremy back into Judith's good books?
Episode 3: [January 12] Jean takes centre stage to uncover a deadly family drama when tragedy strikes twice in Sainte Victoire. Jeremy and Judith are attending a wake at La Couronne for Anna Dumonet, a leading light in the Saint Victoire theatre. Jeremy introduces Jean to Anna's daughter Vivienne, a local antiques dealer. Vivienne appears at Jean's antiques shop the next day to ask for her help, as she has discovered that Anna was not her real mother. Her mother was in fact Genevieve Harris, an actress who was killed in 1974, and she wants to know how it happened. Anna left Vivienne a ring, which Jean quickly identifies as a poison ring with a secret compartment. Jean agrees to help Vivienne, but quickly finds that solving a murder case that's 50 years old is not easy...
Episode 4: [January 19] Jean and Dom assist Caron in solving a murder in a beautiful but remote country mansion. Robert Coste lives in the house with his devoted housekeeper and his troublesome son. He recently sold the house to Jeremy and Judith, and is moving to Paris. As Jeremy and Judith arrive to start refurbishing their new investment, a gunshot rings out. Judith rushes into the house and is horrified to find Robert shot at his kitchen table, clasping a unique key. Did someone not want him to leave? And why did he ask his glamorous neighbour Flora to sign his new will only the night before?
Episode 5 [January 26] For the first time, Jean has friends from England visiting Sainte Victoire — fellow antique dealer David (Les Dennis) and his new husband George (David Ames) are on their honeymoon, but all is not going well for the happy couple! They seem to have someone on their trail intent on making it a very short trip, and one of their wedding presents was a mysterious pack of cards, which Charlie reveals are very old, very valuable — and very cursed! Jean doesn't believe in curses, but can she figure out why the pair are experiencing such misfortune?
Episode 6 [February 2]: Jeremy's old rock and roll friend Dura is staying at the Chateau's Millhouse to record his comeback album, and Jeremy has locked him in and left him to work alone. But while Dura's wife, Mandarina, and sound engineer Marco are outside in the sound van, they hear a scream — and when Jeremy, Marco and Mandarina break into the studio, they find Dura lying dead with a head injury and a strange symbol drawn on his face. But how could he have been murdered in a locked room all by himself? Caron can't make sense of it, and calls in Jean to help...
Episode 7 [February 9]: Something smells suspicious in Sainte Victoire in the season finale when perfumier Raffy Ozanne is found dead in his shop after a robbery. As well as the missing takings, an antique perfume bottle has also been taken, so Caron enlists Jean once again to find the murderer. But there's a shock for Gloria when Cooper is arrested — could he be the killer, or is it a case of mistaken identity?
Sally Lindsay interview for The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special
What can we expect from the Christmas special?
"I love being on telly at Christmas! I love Christmas and everything about Christmas telly — I think it's like a gift to the nation. If you have absolutely no money, you can still turn the telly on and you've got a present.
Creating my own Christmas special was just so exciting, because it's all the factors that I like in Christmas — there's Christmas trees, there's decorations, and there's a murder mystery plot in there as well. But there's a lot of Christmas emotion, there's a choir, there's presents, it's all there! It's a fabulously feelgood ending, and it's set in the sunshine — no snow. There's no woolies because you don't need them in the south of France in winter!"
What was it like filming the Christmas special?
"We had to film it in the height of summer in [the Maltese island of] Gozo. It was 35 to 40 degrees heat every day, so there were challenges! I think one of the standout moments was when I walked into the square for the first time and I saw it dressed. I've got to say there was a lump in my throat because there's a 35-foot tree there in front of this beautiful church — it was like a world that had been in my head, and then all of a sudden it's there. It took my breath away."
What will your Christmas be like this year?
"I'm going to be with my mum this Christmas. Because of Covid and illness, I've not been able to be with her for about three years at Christmas, so I'm going up to my mum's and stepdad's in Manchester this Christmas, which is amazing. We're driving up there on Christmas morning like we used to in the old days.
We really go to town in this house for Christmas, even when I'd just had the babies [Sally gave birth to twin sons in September 2010] I managed to get out in my complete brain fog and get a tree and put the decorations on. I don't know how I did it!
It's a lot to do with family and friends, we have traditions like Elf Day where we all sit down with elf hats and watch Elf the movie. Because I'm self-employed, we have a Christmas do and Steve [White, Sally's husband and a professional drummer] has his 'Drum Christmas Do' where some of these weird famous drummers go on a pub crawl. And a lot of my London friends aren't in panto this year, so we're probably going to do the old Leicester Square pub crawl. So watch out for that!"
