Safe on TF1: what is Harlan Coben’s series worth with Michael C. Hall (Dexter) and Audrey Fleurot?


TF1 is broadcasting the first three episodes of the “Safe” mini-series this evening, already broadcast on C8 and Netflix. A thriller quickly seen, quickly forgotten, imagined by Harlan Coben, with Michael C. Hall, the star of “Dexter”, and the French Audrey Fleurot.

What is it about ?

Without news of his teenage daughter after a rather drunken evening, Tom Delaney, a surgeon who is struggling to mourn his wife, decides to start looking for her, even if it means upsetting the quiet community of England in which he lives with his family. All his neighbors are then also gradually embarked on a real nightmare…

Thursdays March 2 and 9 at 9:10 p.m. on TF1. 8 episodes seen out of 8.

Who is it with?

Tom Delaney, the hero of Safe ready to do anything to find out what happened to his missing daughter, is played by comedian Michael C. Hall, whom series fans obviously know for his performances in the series Dexter and Six Feet Under.

Facing him, viewers will find Amanda Abbington (Mary Watson in Sherlock), Marc Warren (Snatch), Hannah Arterton (The Five, Peripherals, the worlds of Flynne), Emmett J. Scanlan (The Fall, Peaky Blinders), Amy James -Kelly (Gentleman Jack), Freddie Thorp (Destiny: The Winx Saga) and Hero Fiennes Tiffin (After).

Without forgetting Audrey Fleurot (HPI, Les Combattantes), who lends her features to Zoé Chahal, a French teacher who finds herself accused of having a relationship with one of her students.

Ben Blackall/STUDIO CANAL

Michael C. Hall in search of truth in Safe.

It’s worth checking out ?

To succeed Balthazar, which ended last Thursday after five seasons, TF1 has decided to bet on a new thriller series… not so new since Safe was already broadcast in the spring of 2018 on C8 and is available on Netflix for a little over four years now.

A somewhat strange choice of programming which is certainly explained by the fact that the front page has few unpublished French detective fiction in reserve to last until the summer, apart from Prometheus which will arrive on the air on March 16. And season 3 of HPI, scheduled for May.

The channel must therefore “fill the holes” with other options – films, TV films or even “catalog” series, as is the case here. And by betting on Safe, TF1 is betting above all on the double attraction of Audrey Fleurot, still just as popular, and Harlan Coben, whose name undeniably rhymes with devilishly effective thriller for a large part of the public.


Ben Blackall/STUDIO CANAL

Audrey Fleurot in the casting of an international series.

Co-production between the United Kingdom and France (hence the presence of Audrey Fleurot in the cast), Safe is Harlan Coben’s second original creation for television, after The Five.

And it obviously takes up all the codes that made the success of the novelist and that we also find in the various adaptations of his bestsellers, from Don’t tell anyone to Just a look, via Intimidation, In the woods and Gone Forever on Netflix.

Namely mysterious cases of disappearances, false pretenses galore, and deeply buried secrets just waiting to be unearthed.

Even if Michael C. Hall, who struggles as best he can with a fake British accent, is not in his best shape, and if most of the characters do not avoid clichés, Safe is in line with the previous works of Harlan Coben and will therefore undoubtedly appeal to fans of the author turned screenwriter.


Ben Blackall/STUDIO CANAL

Tom (Michael C. Hall) leads the investigation with Pete (Marc Warren), his best friend.

This eight-episode mini-series, written mainly by Danny Brocklehurst, does not reinvent the genre at all, far from it. It even misses good ideas, so little does it do with its yet intriguing setting (a closed community from which the writers could have drawn a real atmosphere and many narrative possibilities).

But with its characters who all hide dark secrets, Safe turns out to be a skilfully constructed thriller, which does not skimp on twists and surprises, and thus manages to keep us relatively spellbound from start to finish.

Indeed, once the first episode has been launched, the viewer inevitably wants to know the end of this whole story and to know what happened to Jenny, Tom’s daughter. The mark of an effective thriller, if not particularly original or well written, which will not mark the spirits but should ensure two rather pleasant evenings for fans of the genre.



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