French TV series have never been more vibrant. From spy thrillers to arthouse comedies, (re)discover a selection of the most memorable French series from recent years—ones you should watch at least once. Interested in writing or directing? Explore our Film & Television Programs .
Three Key Points for Understanding the French Series
The ORTF and Its Major Drama Productions (1964–1974)
For ten years, the French Radio and Television Office produced ambitious miniseries, some of which were entrusted to filmmakers: Maurice Pialat directed *La Maison des bois* in 1971, and Claude Barma adapted *Les Rois maudits* in 1972. The Office was dissolved on December 31, 1974; TF1, Antenne 2, and FR3 emerged from its breakup.
Canal+'s "Original Creation" label (starting in 2005)
Fabrice de la Patellière, who served as head of drama at Canal+ starting in 2002, created this brand. *Engrenages*, which premiered in 2005 and drew inspiration from American suspense series, paved the way for *Carlos*, *Les Revenants*, *Le Bureau des légendes *, and *Baron Noir*.
International Recognition (2010s)
The Séries Mania festival was launched in 2010 at the Forum des images in Paris and moved to Lille in 2018. The International Emmy Awards honored *Les Revenants* in 2013, *Engrenages* in 2015, and *Dix pour cent* in 2021, and several French series have been adapted for international audiences.
Must-Watch French TV Shows
3 Times Manon (2014)
Designer: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade.
Starring: Alba Gaïa Bellugi (Manon Vidal), Marina Foïs (Monique, her mother), Yannick Choirat (Lucas Rivière, her teacher).
Synopsis: A teenage girl placed in a secure juvenile detention center tries to rebuild her life after committing an act of violence.
Why watch it? A sensitive and accurate miniseries about a troubled childhood, created by an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker.
Note: Three episodes co-written by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and Antoine Lacomblez. In 2002, the director won the Oscar for Best Documentary for *Un coupable idéal*. The miniseries, which won the FIPA d’Or for fiction at the Biarritz Film Festival in 2014, had a sequel on Arte in 2017, *Manon 20 ans*, again starring Alba Gaïa Bellugi.
Ten Percent (2015)
Designer: Fanny Herrero.
Starring: Camille Cottin (Andréa Martel), Thibault de Montalembert (Mathias Barneville), Grégory Montel (Gabriel Sarda).
Synopsis: The hectic daily lives of talent agents at a Parisian agency, caught between capricious stars and internal crises.
Why see it? A comedy that has become an international phenomenon, driven by its guest stars and its overall writing.
Note: The original idea came from producer Dominique Besnehard; the title, which refers to the agents’ commission, was suggested by Danièle Thompson. The guests play themselves, and more than a dozen actors declined to participate in the first season, which forced the writers to rewrite certain episodes. Nominated for an International Emmy Award for Comedy in 2016, the series won the award in 2021 for its fourth season.
Black Baron (2016)
Creators: Éric Benzekri and Jean-Baptiste Delafon.
Starring: Kad Merad (Philippe Rickwaert), Anna Mouglalis (Amélie Dorendeu), Niels Arestrup (Francis Laugier).
Synopsis: A congressman from the North, betrayed by his own party, embarks on a ruthless political comeback.
Why see it? A major French political thriller—bitter, well-researched, and edge-of-your-seat.
Note: Before writing the series, Éric Benzekri was a left-wing activist and worked in the office of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who was then a deputy minister. Unable to obtain permission to film at the Palais-Bourbon, the crew filmed the National Assembly at the Bordeaux courthouse. The third season is inspired by the Yellow Vests movement.
In Short (2011)
Creators: Kyan Khojandi and Bruno Muschio.
Starring: Kyan Khojandi (the narrator), Bérengère Krief (Marla), Keyvan Khojandi (Keyvan, her brother).
Synopsis: In a series of ultra-short vignettes, the daily life of a somewhat lost thirty-something Parisian.
Why watch it? A cult TV classic with frenetic editing that left its mark on an entire generation.
Note: 82 episodes, each about two minutes long, aired on Canal+ from August 29, 2011, to July 12, 2012. On October 6, 2011, the series drew more than 2.5 million viewers. The hero returns fourteen years later on Disney+ with *Bref. 2* (February 2025), a six-episode series with episodes running about thirty minutes each.
Carlos (2010)
Director: Olivier Assayas.
Starring: Édgar Ramírez (Carlos), Alexander Scheer (Johannes Weinrich), Nora von Waldstätten (Magdalena Kopp).
Synopsis: The rise and fall of the terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, known as Carlos, spanning three decades and three continents.
Why see it? Assayas’s epic, carried by Édgar Ramírez, straddling the line between film and an auteur TV series.
Note: Broadcast in three parts on Canal+ in May and June 2010, the uncut version—over five hours long—is being screened out of competition at Cannes. Filming took seven months in countries such as Germany, Hungary, Lebanon, and Morocco, with dialogue in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, German, and Japanese. From his prison cell, Carlos denounced fabrications and attempted to block the broadcast; the court dismissed his case.
Of Silver and Blood (2023)
Designer: Xavier Giannoli.
Starring: Vincent Lindon (Simon Weynachter), Ramzy Bedia (Alain Fitoussi), Niels Schneider (Jérôme Attias).
Synopsis: The true story of a massive carbon tax scam—and the man who set out to bring it down.
Why watch it? A sweeping, dark financial thriller, directed for television.
Note: According to journalist Fabrice Arfi’s 2018 book on the 2008–2009 carbon credit VAT fraud, which the Court of Auditors estimated cost the government 1.6 billion euros. The first six episodes were screened out of competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2023. The characters played by Ramzy Bedia and Niels Schneider are based on Marco Mouly and Arnaud Mimran.
Engrenages (2005)
Creators: Alexandra Clert and Guy-Patrick Sainderichin.
Starring: Caroline Proust (Captain Laure Berthaud), Philippe Duclos (Judge François Roban), Audrey Fleurot (Joséphine Karlsson).
Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of the Parisian police, judiciary, and legal community, a judge, a police captain, an assistant district attorney, and a lawyer confront the city’s dark side.
Why watch it? A major French procedural crime drama—realistic and uncompromising—a benchmark of the genre.
Note: Alexandra Clert was a criminal defense attorney when she created the series, which aired on Canal+ from 2005 to 2020, spanning eight seasons and 86 episodes. A real-life anti-terrorism judge, Judge Thiel, served as a consultant to the team. Under the title *Spiral*, it became the first French-language series to air on the British network BBC Four in 2006.
Hippocrates (2018)
Designer: Thomas Lilti.
Starring: Louise Bourgoin (Chloé Antovska), Alice Belaïdi (Alyson Lévêque), Karim Leklou (Arben Bascha).
Synopsis: Young interns, left to their own devices, keep a hospital ward in crisis running.
Why see it? A fair and gripping look at hospital life, told through the eyes of Thomas Lilti, a doctor.
Note: The series is a follow-up to the 2014 film *Hippocrate* by Thomas Lilti, a doctor by training. The ward is recreated in a disused wing of Robert-Ballanger Hospital in Aulnay-sous-Bois. In the spring of 2020, with filming for Season 2 suspended due to the lockdown, Lilti donated set equipment to this hospital and returned to work there for a few weeks—an experience that led him to rewrite the season.
The School of Power (2009)
Director: Raoul Peck.
Starring: Robinson Stévenin (Abel Karnonski), Céline Sallette (Laure de Cigy), Élodie Navarre (Caroline Séguier).
Synopsis: Beginning in 1977, a class of ENA graduates finds its ideals clashing with the realities of power as a change in government approaches.
Why watch it? A critical and personal look at the making of the French elite, directed by Raoul Peck.
Note: The protagonists are part of the Voltaire class, which graduated from ENA in 1980—the same class as François Hollande, Ségolène Royal, and Dominique de Villepin. Raoul Peck took over the project from British filmmaker Peter Kosminsky, who is still credited as the screenwriter. The two episodes, each about two hours long, were first broadcast on Canal+ in January 2009, then on Arte.
The House in the Woods (1971)
Director: Maurice Pialat.
Starring: Pierre Doris (Albert Picard), Jacqueline Dufranne (Jeanne Picard), Hervé Lévy (Hervé).
Synopsis: During World War I, a young boy from Paris is sent to live with a family in the countryside.
Why watch it? A television masterpiece by Pialat, marked by rare tenderness and authenticity.
Note: Seven episodes co-produced by ORTF and RAI, broadcast from September through October 1971. Pialat, who at the time had directed only one feature film, *L’Enfance nue*, plays the schoolteacher in the series and primarily directs non-professional actors; he considered the series his finest work. Restored in 4K by the INA in 2024, it received its theatrical release in the United States in 2026.
The Bureau of Legends (2015)
Designer: Éric Rochant.
Starring: Mathieu Kassovitz (Guillaume Debailly, known as Malotru), Sara Giraudeau (Marina Loiseau), Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Henri Duflot).
Synopsis: At the heart of the DGSE, the undercover agents of the “Bureau des légendes” risk their identities and their lives in the field.
Why watch it? The pinnacle of French spy series, with exceptional attention to detail and suspense.
Note: Five seasons and 50 episodes aired on Canal+ from April 2015 to May 2020; Éric Rochant entrusted the last two to Jacques Audiard. Mathieu Kassovitz received the Best Actor Award from the International Press Jury at Séries Mania in 2015. The Americans adapted it into *The Agency* (2024), starring Michael Fassbender.
Les Revenants (2012)
Creator: Fabrice Gobert.
Starring: Anne Consigny (Claire Séguret), Yara Pilartz (Camille Séguret), Clotilde Hesme (Adèle Werther).
Synopsis: In a small mountain town, the dead reappear, intact, as if time had stood still.
Why see it? An atmospheric fantasy film that has been acclaimed worldwide, featuring a score by Mogwai.
Note: The series is inspired by Robin Campillo’s 2004 film *Les Revenants*. It was filmed primarily in Annecy and neighboring towns, with the dam featured in the series being the one in Tignes. Also the recipient of a Peabody Award, it was adapted into an American remake, *The Returned*, which aired on A&E in 2015 and was canceled after one season.
Sambre (2023)
Creators: Alice Géraud, Marc Herpoux, and Jean-Xavier de Lestrade.
Starring: Alix Poisson (Christine Labot), Olivier Gourmet (Commander Étienne Winckler), Jonathan Turnbull (Enzo Salina).
Synopsis: Over the course of thirty years, the investigation into a serial rapist and the failures that left his victims without answers.
Why watch it? A chilling investigative series about institutional denial, based on a true story.
Note: Based on Alice Géraud’s book, *Sambre: An In-Depth Look at a News Story* (2023), about the case of Dino Scala, who was arrested in 2018 and sentenced in 2022 to twenty years in prison. Each of the six episodes follows a different character and a different year, from 1988 to 2018: a victim, a judge, a mayor, a researcher, a police commander, and finally the rapist. France Télévisions announced the strongest debut in the history of its platform, with over one million views in two days.
A French Village (2009)
Creators: Frédéric Krivine, Philippe Triboit, and Emmanuel Daucé.
Starring: Robin Renucci (Daniel Larcher), Audrey Fleurot (Hortense Larcher), Thierry Godard (Raymond Schwartz).
Synopsis: Life in a town in the Jura region during the Occupation, from 1940 through the Liberation and beyond.
Why watch it? A masterful historical epic about occupied France, seven seasons of rare accuracy.
Note: Villeneuve, the town featured in the series, is fictional. Historian Jean-Pierre Azéma served as a consultant. The 72 episodes required approximately 700 days of filming, which wrapped up in July 2017, and the final season uses flash-forwards to show the characters’ futures.
In Therapy (2021)
Creators: Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache.
Starring: Frédéric Pierrot (Philippe Dayan), Mélanie Thierry (Ariane), Reda Kateb (Adel).
Synopsis: In the aftermath of the November 2015 attacks, a psychoanalyst sees his patients week after week and begins to lose his footing.
Why watch it? A masterful French adaptation of the Israeli series *BeTipul*, featuring an exceptional cast that transforms the doctor’s office into a deeply moving, closed-door drama.
Note: Each episode, which runs about 30 minutes, corresponds to one session. Toledano and Nakache share directing duties with Pierre Salvadori, Nicolas Pariser, and Mathieu Vadepied, among others. On March 11, 2021, the first season surpassed 36.5 million views—a record for the arte.tv platform.
Where should I start?
For spy thrillers and crime dramas: *Le Bureau des légendes*, followed by *Engrenages*.
Just for laughs: " Dix pour cent " and " Bref."
For politics: *Baron Noir*, then *L’École du pouvoir*.
For true stories: *Sambre*, *Of Silver and Blood *, and *Carlos*.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which French TV series have won an International Emmy Award?
Three shows from this selection: *Les Revenants* (Best Drama Series, 2013), *Engrenages* (Best Drama Series, 2015), and *Dix pour cent* (Best Comedy Series, 2021).
Which French TV series have been remade in the U.S.?
*Les Revenants* became *The Returned* (A&E, 2015), and *Le Bureau des légendes* inspired *The Agency* (2024), starring Michael Fassbender. Conversely, *En thérapie* is itself an adaptation of an Israeli series, *BeTipul*.
Which French TV series are based on true stories?
Sambre takes a look back at the case of the “Sambre Rapist, ” “D’argent et de sang” covers VAT fraud involving carbon credits, and Carlos examines the life of terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez.
What is Séries Mania?
France’s premier TV series festival, founded in 2010 by Laurence Herszberg at the Forum des images in Paris, and based in Lille since 2018. In 2015, Mathieu Kassovitz received an acting award there for *Le Bureau des légendes*.
See also: black-and-white · classics · contemporary · Asian · Italian · contemporary French · horror · Chinese
Programs offered at ESRA Paris
The school offers post-baccalaureate Programs in all three audiovisual fields. These Programs award a state-approved degree recognized by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
Producer, Director, Editor
Audiovisual, Sound Systems, Music,
Radio, Video Games
Animation, 3D Compositing & VFX, Management & Production, Modeling
