FRENCH connection

As their BritBox hit comes to ITV, stars ROGER ALLAM and NANCY CARROLL tell TV Times why they love cracking crime

- CAREN CLARK

MURDER IN PROVENCE

NEW SUNDAY, 8PM, ITV DRAMA

Roger Allam is a long way from the dreaming spires of 1970s Oxford in his sun-dappled new drama, but the Endeavour favourite still has crime on his mind...

Based on the popular Verlaque and Bonnet novels by Canadian author ML Longworth, Murder in Provence launched exclusively on BritBox in March (and is still available on the service) and this week, the three-parter makes its much-anticipated debut on ITV.

The series sees Roger play debonair, wine-loving investigative judge Antoine Verlaque, who uncovers evidence about crimes in and around the beautiful city of Aix-en-Provence before they come to trial.

Helping Antoine crack the cases are his spirited criminal-psychologist girlfriend Marine Bonnet (Father Brown star Nancy Carroll) and no-nonsense Deputy Police Commissioner Hélène Paulik (The Greatest Showman's Keala Settle).

Here, in an exclusive interview, old friends Roger, 68, and Nancy, 47, tell TV Times what sets their crime drama apart...

'IN THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE, AWFUL THINGS ARE GOING ON' - Roger Allam

What makes the show so special?

ROGER The setting gives a different feel from British murder-mystery shows, and its wittiness is great and quite a contrast, too.

NANCY Yes, there are also interesting thriller stories about the dark underbelly of the south of France. But writer Shelagh Stephenson [who adapted ML Longworth's stories for TV] feels that the French are far more Mediterranean and emotional than we give them credit for, so that warmth comes through in her scripts. It's a love letter to French culture and people.