After the announcement of its final shutdown this Thursday, May 5 by the executives of France Télévisions, the first prospects for a rebound are already mentioned for the future of the emblematic soap opera of the public service.
After the announcement this Thursday of the definitive cessation of Plus Belle la vie, broadcast since 2004 on France 3, the managers of the France Télévisions group unveiled part of the program to come to close the eighteen seasons of the Marseille soap opera, and above all not to leave the many teams that made this industrial production alive.
Questioned by our colleagues from puremedias, Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, director of the antennas of France Télévisions, revealed that in addition to the next bonus filmed in recent weeks, the soap opera was going to be entitled to a second special bonus for the occasion. But not only.
“We ordered a spin-off“, he declares. This will be broadcast in prime time and could become a recurring series in the event of success with the audience. An operation already attempted by France 3 in 2014 with the units Une vie en Nord – around the characters by Ninon and Rudy – and Sur les quais, centered on the cop Jean-Paul Boher.Neither of the two, however, had given rise to a sequel.
“Today, our priority is to work on the upcoming activity in Marseille” continues the director of antennas. In order to fill the void left by the filming of the soap opera, which alone represented 40% of the professional activity of the audiovisual sector in Marseilles, France Télévisions has undertaken to produce fiction there to the tune of of the overall budget for the series, i.e. 30 million euros.
Among the first announced, three shoots will take place in the studios of the Marseille city: the legal series Marianne with Marilou Berry, the historical miniseries La rue des condemnés and La Peste, adaptation of the novel by Albert Camus. In addition, the detective series Candice Renoir, historically filmed in the city of Sète, will settle in Marseille for its next filming.
“A adventure like this, it does not end lightly“, continues Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, pointing out that the success of the series has eroded over the years with competition from the other three soap operas of TF1 and France 2. “We didn’t want to do the season too much.“
As for the final daily episode of Plus Belle la vie, it already has a fixed date: November 18, according to the general manager of Newen Studios, which produces the soap opera. To your handkerchiefs…