Les rivières pourpres

The story is a well narrated crime story if bestseller author Jean-Christophe Grangé - who already wrote the book -Crimson River- which later became the movie with Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel. The mood and the characters of this film are really close to the series. The rough detective and his young unexperienced colleague.

I saw so many cop series that most of them are really close to each other - this one is quite interesting as most of story is based around religious topics. Every episode is splitted in two parts, which I really liked.

This eight part French crime drama is made up of four separate cases, two episodes each. It is centred on Pierre Niémans and his deputy Camille Delaunay who work for a specialist unit that investigates the bizarrest of crimes. These include a huntsman who is killed according to the ancient traditions of the hunting family; a murder in a cult, deaths linked to a children's home and the murder of a monk who used to be a policeman. The fact that their cases can be anywhere in France, and in the first case partly over the border in Germany, means that apart from our two protagonists the stories will have different sets of characters.

I am aware that this series is based on a character that first appeared in a film of the same name but didn't feel it was a problem that I'd never seen the film. The first story does a solid job introducing us to our two leads. Olivier Marchal and Erika Sainte do fine jobs as Pierre and Camille making them interesting characters to watch. The cases are nicely varied and enjoyably strange. They provide a good number of suspects and motives to keep the viewer guessing. There is also a good sense of danger as each approaches its conclusion. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of crime dramas involving unusual cases.

These comments are based on watching the series in French with English subtitles.

I like this show and it's actors a lot! However, I feel really sorry for the actress playing Camille. How many times is she going to walk into another trap, or have her weapon taken from her for doing something idiotic so Niemans has to come save her because she is a bumbling idiot. If I was the actress I would have to a few words with the writers. I would tell them that no one is this stupid, all the time, and also happens to be a cop.

That being said, I do actually like the actress, she is just doing her job, and well! The atmosphere is really nice too. I like seeing the cool little towns and countryside.

Anyway, that's it.

Crimson Rivers on Channel 4 (UK & RoI). French detectives investigating strange murders. Cross between Criminal Minds and The X-Files. Detective Commissaire Pierre Niemans from the crimson Rivers films is back with a young sidekick, former student Camille Delaunay. So far (four episodesin) there's Horror with ritual murder, a curse going back centuries, nazi dogs, Cults.

Pretty good, set in the dark isolated backwoods of France.

Not without faults but a seriously different series .The murders alone a worth the watch. There is a certain pattern the show follows but I like the fact it does not take 8 episodes to solve each case. Two per investigation. The characters are more than standard police and their antics add a little charm