Hot Picks: The Brigade

With Bafta nominations for The Responder and Belfast-set police procedural Blue Lights now airing on BBC1, the time is ripe for a similarly gritty crime drama from the other side of The Channel.

French-language series The Brigade digs into the arcane power of the Parisian police force with suspense, adrenaline and action.

It’s the creation of prolific novelist-turned- film-maker Jérémie Guez, director of acclaimed feature thrillers including A Bluebird In My Heart and Sons Of Philadelphia.

As a screenwriter, he has experience in the crime genre, having written mini-series A French Case for Belgian broadcaster RTBF. The Brigade (French title B.R.I.), which Guez created and co-scripted, is his first TV production as director.

The series focuses on elite police unit the B.R.I., which is trained to fight organised crime and terrorism. The action centres on Saïd as he takes over the leadership of this crack team of fiery young cops from Patrick, a charismatic leader who may be more set in his ways. Saïd attempts to integrate himself into the new team, all while preventing a gang war that could set Paris on fire.

While the series follows a procedural template, with cases investigated and resolved in each episode, there is a wider narrative arc, says StudioCanal senior vice-president of global sales and production financing Beatriz Campos.

“Our main protagonist Saïd wants to bring a new management style to the Brigade but this will collide with that of his old boss,” Campos says. “The drama avoids the cliché that to fight crime you must think like – even become – a criminal and tells the story with a fresh angle, making the series very attractive to international audiences.”

The Brigade hails from Federation Studios’ Cheyenne Federation and debuts as a Création Originale on Canal+ in France and across the Canal+ footprint (including Hungary, Poland and Vietnam) in April. StudioCanal previously worked with Guez on Black Box, and Campos says it is “very reassuring to have a creator of Jérémie’s calibre with such a strong track record of ambitious productions”.

Spiral scribe Erwan Augoyard is a co-writer on The Brigade, along with Jean-Baptiste Delafon (Baron Noir) and Louis Lagayette. The series is produced by Cheyenne’s Aimee Buidine (who also produce Guez’s Brothers By Blood) and Julien Madon.

StudioCanal handled distribution for police and legal drama Spiral, which has gone on to become a globally recognised eight-series action returner. “We hope The Brigade will follow the same path,” Campos says.

“Every country has their own Brigade or SWAT team, and we think the action, themes of organised crime and standout characters have all the ingredients of another hit.”

The Brigade’s ensemble cast includes “upcoming, young and diverse French talent” such as Sofian Khammes (Un Triomphe), Ophélie Bau  Mektoub My Love), Théo Christine (War Of The Worlds), Waël Sersoub (Happy End), Bruno Todeschini (His Brother), Nina Meurisse (Camille), Sami Outalbali (Sex Education), Vincent Elbaz (The Hundred-Foot Journey) and Emmanuelle Devos (Just A Sigh).