The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special 2023 is almost here — and while there may not be any snow in the fictional southern France village of Sainte Victoire, there's definitely plenty of mystery and mayhem over the festive season!
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special 2022 saw Jean (Sally Lindsay) fighting to clear police chief André Caron's (Alex Gaumond) name after he was accused of murdering his wife. Will another of the Sainte Victoire locals find themselves on the wrong side of the law this year, or could there be nefarious goings-on elsewhere?
Read on to find out all about this year's seasonal special...
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special 2023 release date
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special 2023 will air on Friday, December 22 at 9pm on Channel 5 in the UK.
The international release date for the special on Acorn TV is still to be confirmed.
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special 2023 cast
Series creator Sally Lindsay is back as antiques expert and amateur sleuth Jean White, and she'll be joined by series regulars Steve Edge as Dom, Sue Holderness as Judith, Robin Askwith as Jeremy, Alex Gaumond as Caron and Sue Vincent (who co-writes the show with Sally) as Gloria.
The Christmas special also features guest appearances from Bad Education star Vicki Pepperdine as Lydia, It Ain't Half Hot Mum's George Layton as Martin, Tayo Aluko as Johnson, Karine Ambrosio as Brigette, Lyna Dubarry as Lea, Murielle Huet Des Aunay as Lily, and Adrien Mubu as Yves.
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special 2023 plot
Christmas is approaching in Sainte Victoire, and Judith and Jeremy have arranged for their friends to attend a murder mystery night at a hotel with something of a spooky history, so Jean, Dom, Caron, Judith, Jeremy and Gloria set off to stay at the Hotel Sanguinet, approximately an hour away.
The hotel is run by Jeremy and Judith's friends Martin and Lydia, who are running out of money and in need of new investors — hence the attempt to impress Judith and Jeremy. Their only staff member is Johnson, the butler, who they inherited from the previous owner and has worked at the Sanguinet for many years.
A terrible storm breaks out unexpectedly, and as the murder mystery event begins, things take a terrible turn when an actual murder is committed!
Jean is determined to solve the mystery and decides to look around the hotel with Dom — so will she unmask the killer and get to the bottom of the ghostly goings-on that have haunted the hotel for many years?
Interview with Sally Lindsay and Steve Edge for The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas Special
What can we look forward to in this year's Christmas special?
Sally: "I wanted this one to be a completely different genre from last year's, so I had a go at the Cluedo, murder mystery, Hammer House of Horror idea of setting everything in one place."
Steve: "They call that a bottle episode, don't they? When everyone's trapped in one place?"
Sally: "I didn't even know that! I love those Hammer 'grr, the road's blocked, we can't get out' set-ups, but we also made it a laugh because I put Dom sharing a room with Jeremy and Jean in with Judith, so that lightened it a bit. Our director of photography, Sean, said it's like a grown-up episode of Scooby-Doo — I'm taking that as a compliment, I'm proud of that!"
How did George Layton and Vicki Pepperdine get involved?
Steve: "Well, George is one of Robin's old friends, so I think Robin did a little bit of digging there and asked if George was available!"
Sally: "They were hysterical together — it's like they're still 25, which is a lovely thing! I'd worked with Vicki years ago on Still Open All Hours, just one episode, and I'd always been a fan of hers, I watch everything she's in. So I just chanced my arm really and said, 'are you free? We've got this character I've written with you in mind', because she does that British, bristly thing brilliantly — and she said yes, which was phenomenal. I couldn't believe it! It was a joyous episode to do, we loved it."
Do you have any experience of murder mystery evenings in real life?
Sally: "I haven't, but Sue Vincent, my writing partner, used to be in one! Those actors who came in [to play the murder mystery's cast] were brilliantly funny, I just said 'be as bad as you can', and Sue then said 'I think they were worse when we did it!' Sue did them every other weekend when she first started out, so it was like another job."
Steve: "I have this fear of getting dragged up [to participate], I just want to sit and watch! And Dom pretty much follows that line as well."
What plans do you have for Christmas this year?
Steve: "We're having a quiet one this year. I've got a one-year-old and a seven-year-old, and we usually have lots of family over, but this year it'll just be me, my wife and my mother-in-law. Obviously we'll have the kids, but we don't have to worry about entertaining other people while they are being kids, so it'll be nice and relaxing!"
Sally: "We're all going out for dinner on Christmas Day, which is very indulgent, but our lovely restaurant around the corner informed us that they're doing Christmas dinner, so I'm like, 'we're there!'. And on Boxing Day we'll be doing a lot of dog-walking and eating leftovers — pretty traditional, really!"
The Madame Blanc Mysteries Christmas special 2023 trailer
Sadly there isn't a trailer yet, but as soon as one is released we will add it to this guide.
