Did anybody watch the opening episode of The Returned on C4 on Sunday evening?

Set in a remote French mountain village (and in French, wi' subtitles) it opens with a school coach swerving and then crashing through the safety barrier at the edge of the road.

Four years later, as the bereaved parents attend their support group, one of the children killed walks from the crash site back to the village, apparently un-aged and unaware that anything bad has happened to her. She's not the only one to be returning; a young man, deceased a decade earlier, is puzzled to find that his girlfriend has moved house, an elderly widower has his long-dead wife return and a spooky, mute boy follows a girl from the village home.

I've seen a few reviews of this programme mention 'zombies', but aside from being ravenously hungry, the reanimated dead in this show have nothing in common with the hordes from The Walking Dead. In fact, they're hardly a problem at all - ready to simply pick up their lives where they left off. Instead this series seems set to focus on the emotional problems that this causes for the living.

It's all done in a very understated French way (although there is apparently an English-language version underway) and looks set to take its time building atmosphere and characters. So much so that from the first episode alone it's actually quite hard to work out what direction it's going to head in.

Anyway, as Arne Dahl finished on Saturday night, this will now be providing my weekly fill of subtitled telly.

Merde, je l'ai raté! Might it be on catch up/4-player?

I watched it on Sunday and I'm already hooked.
It looks like it's available on 4oD, Jim.

I saw that, and thought it was weird, creepy genius.

So, anybody watch episode 2 of The Returned?

The plot inched forward, it's in no hurry to go anywhere, but introduced the idea that the returnees may have a bit of propensity towards violence. Simon, killed on his wedding day in 2001, viciously beat a diner owner who'd refused to give him even a slice of bread, while another ex-ex sat and watched the scene without a flicker of emotion, and Camille trashed her older twin* sister's bedroom, apparently enraged that her sister's life had continued after her own had been snuffed out.

However a vicious serial killer, who we're led to believe had been on the receiving end of some vigilante justice 7 years previously, was reduced to tears by the realisation that he'd been dead for that time.

So, this continues to be a beautiful and thoughtful series,
which it seems is heading somewhere. Definitely worth joining it for the ride.

* Yes, I know, but it's accurate.

I assumed the bedroom destruction was because she saw a pic of her sis with her (at the time) boyfriend and it was plain jealousy.

Wasn't the woman in the diner another returnee?

I don't think he was ever her boyfriend, just a boy that she really liked. Also...





Yes, that's why I said "ex-ex"

I like your theory there, what clue have i missed that leads you to think that?

I see, would be quite neat. Could certainly explain the bedroom incident too. I'm anticipating another twist too, but don't want to get too far ahead of myself.

Great TV, nice way to spend an evening.

MrsC and I caught up with this yesterday - loving it, I feel quite nostalgic for the French feel of it!

We wondered about your "twist" above Andrew, could be right. Also the violent tendencies and the extreme peckishness.



Very much looking forward to Episode 3...

Not sure where The Returned is going... There are 8 episodes in the series, though C4 seems shy about advertising this.

I thought last night's third episode was about setting up what is to come.

The undertone of violence seems to be more of an overtone.

As for Julie and Victor...

Well I was wrong about Victor then, but what the holy f**k is going on with Lena's back?

Dunno, but I think even TCP might struggle with that. Interesting giveaway from Pierre to Victor (now we know why he didn't see him hiding in the wardrobe...). I fear that Pierre is deeply nasty.

Does Serge have an invisible tent at the entrance to the subway, enabling him to appear the moment any solitary female enters the tunnel? If Thomas spent more time watching the CCTV on there rather than spying on his (now unlikely to be) missus, it could save a few issues.

I'm also intrigued as to whether if Serge or another undead wallah kills someone whether the victim can come back to remonstrate after the event. Also can you "kill" the undead?

In my view everything is connected to the water and possibly the town beneath the reservoir wanting to return...

Still very much enjoying the ride.

Another great episode, but I'm getting worried that they won't be able to pull all the threads together.

I'm with you, Jim - my biggest fear is that this all turns out to be a bunch of random 'creepy' stuff that they threw together, with no underlying story.

I did wonder this week if who came back was related to how much they were remembered; Camille's parents still had her bedroom as a shine, Mr Costa's house was full of photos of his wife, Adele and her daughter were thinking about and drawing Simon and Pierre and Toni were obviously dwelling upon the murders they'd taken part in.

However, you can't imagine that in the whole village they were the only 5 deceased people who were remembered.

Well, there's only 3 more episodes of season 1 to go. If it gives any clue as to where it's going to end then the last episode in the season is titled...

Well, it's the creepy show that keeps on creeping!


Still enjoying it very much!

Well two episodes to go and it doesn't seem to be moving towards resolving anything, does it?

It has, however, answered the question we were all asking ourselves, "What is the biggest turn-off line a woman can say during sex?"

I think we can all agree that, "Your dead daughter is watching us" is the all-time winner.

I'd prefer that to "What are you doing home early..."

Yes, I did think it a bit odd that things seemed to continue after that statement; these French!

Well, things seem to be reaching a climax (unlike the gentleman in Andrew's post).

Whatever happens in the end, I've really enjoyed the gallic feel and excellent atmosphere and tension as well as some very good acting.

Well, tonight's the night. My gut feeling is that we're going to be left with a cliff-hanger and depending on the damn Gauls to get their poo together sufficiently to make a 2nd series.

If you want another combo of breath-taking scenery and David Lynchesque characters I'll recommend The Top of the Lake on BBC1 on Saturday nights. Last night was episode 3, but the whole series is on iPlayer and is well worth a gander.

I'll second this as a visual outdoor feast for the eyes - it's also a raft for a collection of contemporary but visceral issues of gender, power, rape and corruption under a storyline of the disappearance of a 13 year-old who has been discovered pregnant.

Almost no holds barred with language, plenty of "downtime" from the main storyline which has (on UK television at least) 6 episodes to spin out. In this way I find it reminiscent of Steig Larsson's The Millenium Trilogy whose padding is generous at times to the extreme.

Both Mrs Ed and I find it fascinating though as it doesn't conform to the Morse/Rebus-like format of success-in-an-episode and there's no doubt that Jane Campion who has had a major part in its production is due her credit (remember The Piano?)

Both of us having been fans of The West Wing and now Madmen were fascinated to see the Jodie Foster-esque Elizabeth Moss (Zoey Bartlett, Peggy Olson) in her title role but equally disappointed to discover that she is a scientologist

Well...

It's been quite a while, but The Returned has, well, returned.
Apparently on more4, Friday 21:00. The first episode of series 2 has already been shown Friday past but thankfully Mrs. Jimbob recorded it for me so I'm about to watch it now. Did anyone else know it was back?

My daughters tipped me off a while ago that Series 2 was out in France, so we were on the lookout for it. We have recorded it and hopefully will squeeze it into our busy schedule (going to bed at 9.30...) tonight.