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 "excerpt": "The Madame Blanc Mysteries is a British cosy crime drama created by Sally Lindsay and Sue Vincent, starring Lindsay as antiques dealer Jean White in fictional Sainte Victoire, France, filmed on Gozo and Malta, airing on Channel 5 and Acorn TV since 2021.",
 "snippet": "The Madame Blanc Mysteries is a British cosy crime drama created by Sally Lindsay and Sue Vincent, starring Lindsay as antiques dealer Jean White in fictional Sainte Victoire, France, filmed on Gozo and Malta, airing on Channel 5 and Acorn TV since 2021.",
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 "markdown": "# The Madame Blanc Mysteries\n\n**The Madame Blanc Mysteries** is a British cosy crime drama created and co-written by [Sally Lindsay](https://www.edgepedia.org/sally-lindsay) and Sue Vincent, in which antiques dealer Jean White solves murders and mysteries in the fictional French village of Sainte Victoire. Although set in the South of France, the series is filmed almost entirely on the Maltese islands of Gozo and [Malta](https://www.edgepedia.org/malta-island). It premiered on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom on 16 October 2021 and on [Acorn TV](https://www.edgepedia.org/acorn-tv) in the United States on 15 November 2021, and has run for five series plus Christmas specials.<sup>[1](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-madame-blanc-mysteries/details/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://sceneongozo.com/madame-blanc-mysteries-filming-locations/)</sup>\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Genre and rating | Dramedy and whodunit; rated TV-PG in the United States<sup>[3](https://www.crew-united.com/en/The-Madame-Blanc-Mysteries__316476.html)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://acorn.tv/madameblanc)</sup> |\n| First broadcast | Channel 5, 16 October 2021 (UK); Acorn TV, 15 November 2021 (US)<sup>[1](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-madame-blanc-mysteries/details/)</sup> |\n| Creators | Sally Lindsay and Sue Vincent, who also co-write the series; Lindsay stars as Jean White<sup>[5](https://worldscreen.com/tvdrama/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay/)</sup> |\n| Setting and filming | Fictional Sainte Victoire, France, filmed almost entirely on Gozo; Sannat in Series 1, Għarb from Series 2 onward<sup>[2](https://sceneongozo.com/madame-blanc-mysteries-filming-locations/)</sup> |\n| Production | Clapperboard and Saffron Cherry Productions, with Acorn Media Enterprises as international distributor<sup>[6](https://paramount-mediahub.co.uk/press-releases/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-to-return-to-5-for-fifth-series-as-filming-gets-underway)</sup> |\n| Series lengths | Series 1: 6 episodes; Series 2: 7; Series 3: 7; Series 4: 8; Series 5: 7 x 60 minutes<sup>[7](https://thetvdb.com/series/the-reluctant-madame-blanc)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://paramount-mediahub.co.uk/press-releases/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-to-return-to-5-for-fifth-series-as-filming-gets-underway)</sup> |\n| Series 5 broadcast | 29 October 2026 at 9:00 pm on 5 (UK); 9 November 2026 on Acorn TV<sup>[8](https://www.geektown.co.uk/tvairdates/madame-blanc-mysteries/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://www.memorabletv.com/news/madame-blanc-mysteries-season-5-sets-november-9-date/)</sup> |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Premise\n\nJean White (Sally Lindsay) is a respected antiques dealer who runs a successful business in northern England. After her husband's sudden death leaves her nearly bankrupt, she travels to their one remaining asset, a cottage in the antiques hub of Sainte Victoire, France, and begins investigating his death, aided by the sympathetic taxi driver Dom ([Steve Edge](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-edge)). The colorful locals supply a steady stream of further mysteries for her to assess.<sup>[4](https://acorn.tv/madameblanc)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[10](https://www.britishtv.com/interview-with-sally-lindsay-of-the-madame-blanc-mysteries/)</sup> In the backstory Lindsay wrote, the husband died in a car crash while carrying a very expensive ring that went missing, and Jean discovers he had another life and that everything she owns is mortgaged away.<sup>[5](https://worldscreen.com/tvdrama/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay/)</sup> On screen the husband was played by Peter Gaynor.<sup>[11](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/pressrepublican.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/79/7797de43-610b-4a88-9016-45eab8a21d2b/685f1a9bee666.pdf.pdf)</sup>\n\nLindsay has described the character as a fantasy of her own: Jean carries a Sherlockian mental catalog of antiques, and her ordinariness is her advantage, since people tell her things they would not tell someone in authority. The premise also places British expatriates at the center of a French village, which throws the main characters together in a way a French-speaking cast would not.<sup>[5](https://worldscreen.com/tvdrama/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay/)</sup> Lindsay has called the invented setting \"France around the corner\", a beautiful, sunny place people want to visit.<sup>[12](https://www.whattowatch.com/features/exclusive-sally-lindsay-on-the-secrets-of-the-madame-blanc-mysteries)</sup>\n\n## Creation and writing\n\n**Origins.** Lindsay conceived the series around a woman she met on holiday in Spain, a fourth-generation owner of a London antique shop who traded in small towns across the South of France. She and co-creator Sue Vincent built the town and its characters first, then constructed the world around them.<sup>[5](https://worldscreen.com/tvdrama/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay/)</sup> Entertainment Daily reports that she came up with the concept while behind the scenes on *Still Open All Hours*.<sup>[13](https://www.entertainmentdaily.com/tv/who-wrote-the-madame-blanc-mysteries-acorn-tv-channel-5-sally-lindsay-sue-vincent/)</sup> When Acorn TV wanted a script just before the pandemic, she could not find a writer, so she wrote it herself with Vincent, whose previous collaboration with her was comedy.<sup>[5](https://worldscreen.com/tvdrama/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay/)</sup>\n\n**Method.** The two write in an unusual division of labor. Lindsay, more attuned to the mystery side, writes a seven- to ten-page scene breakdown containing two storylines, a local storyline and a mystery storyline. Vincent then writes a large surplus of dialogue, and the pair spend about a week trimming it, in their words \"bonsai-ing it\", to fit the episode length. They research the antiques themselves, and Lindsay has said that everything featured is genuine and heavily researched.<sup>[5](https://worldscreen.com/tvdrama/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay/)</sup>\n\n## Cast and production\n\nSally Lindsay leads the cast as Jean White. The regular ensemble includes Steve Edge as Dom Hayes, Sue Vincent as Gloria Beaushaw, Alex Gaumond as Chief of Police André Caron, and [Sue Holderness](https://www.edgepedia.org/sue-holderness) and [Robin Askwith](https://www.edgepedia.org/robin-askwith) as Judith and Jeremy Lloyd James; [Tony Robinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-robinson) plays Dom's Uncle Patrick.<sup>[6](https://paramount-mediahub.co.uk/press-releases/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-to-return-to-5-for-fifth-series-as-filming-gets-underway)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[7](https://thetvdb.com/series/the-reluctant-madame-blanc)</sup> Many behind-camera roles are filled by Lindsay's longtime collaborators: Edge worked with her on *Phoenix Nights*, director Dermot Boyd on *Mount Pleasant*, and Vincent on *The Vagina Monologues*. Her husband, the drummer Steve White, formerly of The Style Council and the Paul Weller Band, provides the show's music.<sup>[14](https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/sally-lindsay/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[15](https://www.whattowatch.com/features/sally-lindsay-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-tv-star)</sup>\n\nThe series is co-produced by [Clapperboard](https://www.edgepedia.org/clapperboard) and Saffron Cherry Productions, the Manchester company Lindsay co-founded, which focuses on diverse storytellers and strong female voices. Acorn Media Enterprises co-produces and distributes the series internationally, holding exclusive rights worldwide outside the UK and [Northern Ireland](https://www.edgepedia.org/northern-ireland). Series 5 was ordered by Greg Barnett, Commissioning Editor for 5, with Dermot Boyd directing, Ursula Haworth producing, and Mike Benson, Boyd, and Andy Morgan executive producing for Clapperboard alongside Lindsay and Caroline Roberts-Cherry for Saffron Cherry.<sup>[6](https://paramount-mediahub.co.uk/press-releases/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-to-return-to-5-for-fifth-series-as-filming-gets-underway)</sup>\n\nLindsay has described the show as made on a smaller budget than premium dramas, with the team filming a high volume of material each day, and has credited the convivial set with attracting guest stars.<sup>[14](https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/sally-lindsay/)</sup>\n\n## Filming locations\n\nAlthough Sainte Victoire is presented as a village in the South of France, the show is filmed almost entirely on Gozo, Malta. In Series 1 the village was filmed in Sannat; from Series 2 onward the primary location moved to Għarb in western Gozo, with other villages across the island also featuring. The Chateau, home to Judith and Jeremy, is Villa Francia in Lija, Malta, one of the few locations off Gozo and an official residence of the Prime Minister of Malta. Kerċem holds Hotel Sanguinet, the murder mystery party venue in the Series 3 Christmas special. Malta's architecture and Mediterranean scenery double for the South of France convincingly enough that even the production's French actors were persuaded by the resemblance.<sup>[2](https://sceneongozo.com/madame-blanc-mysteries-filming-locations/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[16](https://screenmalta.com/scrnmlta-filmography/the-madame-blanc-mysteries/)</sup>\n\nLocation filming has become part of the show's afterlife: fan guides catalog more than 60 identifiable locations across 13 villages on two islands, and Gozo markets self-guided walking routes for visitors tracing the series.<sup>[2](https://sceneongozo.com/madame-blanc-mysteries-filming-locations/)</sup>\n\n## Broadcast history\n\nSeries 1 ran as six episodes from October to November 2021. Series 2 (seven episodes) aired from December 2022 to February 2023, Series 3 (seven episodes) from December 2023 to February 2024, and Series 4 (eight episodes) from December 2024 into December 2025, each opening with a Christmas episode.<sup>[7](https://thetvdb.com/series/the-reluctant-madame-blanc)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://acorn.tv/madameblanc)</sup> A standalone 120-minute Christmas special aired on Channel 5 on 23 December 2025 at 8 pm, in which Jean attends a [Christmas Eve](https://www.edgepedia.org/christmas-eve) event at the Musée de Sainte Victoire and is asked to authenticate an [Ormolu](https://www.edgepedia.org/ormolu) box once owned by [Marie Antoinette](https://www.edgepedia.org/marie-antoinette), only to find a ticking bomb and a coded message inside, leaving 90 minutes to stop an explosion in the sealed museum.<sup>[17](https://www.womanandhome.com/life/news-entertainment/how-to-watch-the-madame-blanc-mysteries-christmas-special-2025/)</sup> Acorn TV aired the special as a two-part episode on December 15.<sup>[18](https://apnews.com/article/4c533499d8e37b0f7fd6779133c58412)</sup>\n\n**Series 5.** On 12 May 2026, 5 and AMC Global Media's Acorn TV announced a fifth series of 7 x 60 minutes, in production in Gozo and Malta and expected to air later in 2026 on 5; location reporting places the shoot from March to May 2026. The season follows Jean and Dom as they plan their wedding amid new murders and mysteries, including a body in one of the show's iconic locations, a pub quiz hosted by Uncle Patrick at La Couronne, and a death at St Victoire Theatre, with Paul Chuckle returning as Gloria's father Trevor and Stephen Bailey as gangster John Marsden. It premiered on 5 on 29 October 2026 at 9:00 pm and on Acorn TV on 9 November 2026.<sup>[6](https://paramount-mediahub.co.uk/press-releases/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-to-return-to-5-for-fifth-series-as-filming-gets-underway)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://sceneongozo.com/madame-blanc-mysteries-filming-locations/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[8](https://www.geektown.co.uk/tvairdates/madame-blanc-mysteries/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://www.memorabletv.com/news/madame-blanc-mysteries-season-5-sets-november-9-date/)</sup>\n\n## Reception and genre context\n\nThe series belongs to the cozy mystery tradition: British series in charming settings with quirky characters, lighthearted humor, and an emphasis on the intellectual challenge of solving the mystery over suspense.<sup>[19](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/3-cozy-mystery-dramas-on-britbox-perfect-for-a-weekend-binge)</sup> Critics have placed it in that category; one review judged that it suits viewers who want to try to solve each case along with the main character, while finding the mysteries themselves hit and miss, as is common for the genre.<sup>[20](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-madame-blanc-mysteries/critic-reviews/)</sup> Lindsay has framed the show's appeal in similar terms, describing it as an hour of escape with sunshine, romance, and humor, filmed during the pandemic when, in her view, audiences wanted that kind of comfort.<sup>[5](https://worldscreen.com/tvdrama/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay/)</sup>\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries details, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-madame-blanc-mysteries/details/)\n2. [Where Is Madame Blanc Filmed? Gozo & Malta Guide, Scene On Gozo](https://sceneongozo.com/madame-blanc-mysteries-filming-locations/)\n3. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries, Crew United](https://www.crew-united.com/en/The-Madame-Blanc-Mysteries__316476.html)\n4. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries, Acorn TV](https://acorn.tv/madameblanc)\n5. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries' Sally Lindsay, TV Drama (World Screen)](https://worldscreen.com/tvdrama/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay/)\n6. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries to Return to 5 for Fifth Series as Filming Gets Underway, Paramount Media Hub](https://paramount-mediahub.co.uk/press-releases/the-madame-blanc-mysteries-to-return-to-5-for-fifth-series-as-filming-gets-underway)\n7. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries, TheTVDB.com](https://thetvdb.com/series/the-reluctant-madame-blanc)\n8. [Madame Blanc Mysteries UK & US TV Premiere Date, Geektown](https://www.geektown.co.uk/tvairdates/madame-blanc-mysteries/)\n9. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries Season 5 Sets November 9 Date on Acorn TV, Memorable TV](https://www.memorabletv.com/news/madame-blanc-mysteries-season-5-sets-november-9-date/)\n10. [Interview with Sally Lindsay of The Madame Blanc Mysteries, BritishTV.com](https://www.britishtv.com/interview-with-sally-lindsay-of-the-madame-blanc-mysteries/)\n11. [Feature Story, Press Republican](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/pressrepublican.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/79/7797de43-610b-4a88-9016-45eab8a21d2b/685f1a9bee666.pdf.pdf)\n12. [Sally Lindsay reveals Madame Blanc secrets, What to Watch](https://www.whattowatch.com/features/exclusive-sally-lindsay-on-the-secrets-of-the-madame-blanc-mysteries)\n13. [Sally Lindsay and Sue Vincent create The Madame Blanc Mysteries, Entertainment Daily](https://www.entertainmentdaily.com/tv/who-wrote-the-madame-blanc-mysteries-acorn-tv-channel-5-sally-lindsay-sue-vincent/)\n14. [Sally Lindsay on creating The Madame Blanc Mysteries, The Sunday Post](https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/sally-lindsay/)\n15. [Sally Lindsay: things you didn't know about the TV star, What to Watch](https://www.whattowatch.com/features/sally-lindsay-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-tv-star)\n16. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries, Screen Malta](https://screenmalta.com/scrnmlta-filmography/the-madame-blanc-mysteries/)\n17. [How to watch The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special 2025, Woman & Home](https://www.womanandhome.com/life/news-entertainment/how-to-watch-the-madame-blanc-mysteries-christmas-special-2025/)\n18. [25 holiday TV offerings to watch, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/4c533499d8e37b0f7fd6779133c58412)\n19. [3 cozy mystery dramas on BritBox perfect for a weekend binge, Tom's Guide](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/3-cozy-mystery-dramas-on-britbox-perfect-for-a-weekend-binge)\n20. [The Madame Blanc Mysteries critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-madame-blanc-mysteries/critic-reviews/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Genre and subject-scripted series › Crime, police, and detective series › British and Irish crime series › Detective and mystery dramas*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n",
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 "speakable": "The Madame Blanc Mysteries is a British cosy crime drama created by Sally Lindsay and Sue Vincent, starring Lindsay as antiques dealer Jean White in fictional Sainte Victoire, France, filmed on Gozo and Malta, airing on Channel 5 and Acorn TV since 2021."
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