Engrenages (Spiral)

Well, here’s exciting (no, really, genuinely exciting):

From 19 to 22 January, the Institut français will hold its first ever French and British TV Series Festival. TV fanatics, enthusiasts and newcomers will be able to discover the cream of French and British TV series with the most amazing actors, screenwriters and directors in attendance. It’s time to get totally serialized!

The UK premiere of eagely awaited hit TV Show Borgia, attended by actor Mark Ryder, will kick off the festival. Other highlights include a very special premiere of the first episode of Inside Men, the new BBC One TV Drama, followed by a Q&A with writer Tony Basgallop, a screening of Spiral with the screenwriters Anne Landois and Eric de Barahir, an exclusive screening of the first episode of Shane Meadows’s This is England ’88, in the presence of members of the cast and all-night marathon of Season 3 of Misfits with the cast also attending. Maverick French TV Shows such as Platane, with a Q&A with co-screenwriter Hafid F. Benamar, and Hard, a comedy about the porn world are also lined-up as well as comedies such as The Invincibles and the hit TV show Desperate Parents introduced by actress Valérie Bonneton.

Gangsters and cops will wrap up the festival on Sunday notably with Tony’s Revenge and the dark and gritty Braquo. A panel discussion on ‘How to Write a TV Show’ completes the programme, gathering majors screenwriters such as Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files), Paula Milne (Small Island, The Politician’s Wife), Anne Landois and Eric de Barahir (Spiral).

You can find out more here, and there’s also a schedule of events. And for those who aren’t going, apparently Death in Paradise will be broadcast on BBC1 and Borgia will be shown on Netflix UK in 2012. Yes, there’s going to be a Netflix UK in 2012. Interesting. And I’ll be even more interested to see if Borgia is better than snore-fest The Borgias.

I’m probably going to be camped out in the Institute for most of this.