Xavier Depraz

The Bronte Sisters

In a small presbytery in Yorkshire, England, living under the watchful eyes of their aunt and father, a strict Anglican pastor, the Bronte sisters write their first works and quickly become literary sensations.

The Gang

In 1945, as World War Two comes to a close, five small time crooks unite to form a gang. After several bold robberies they become notorious as "the front-wheel drive gang". The police attempt to stop their crime spree with little success, but how long will their luck last?

For a Cop's Hide

Victim of manipulation, Cop Choucas is wanted for two murders and searched for by every cop in town.

Carmen - Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Don José is a guard who begins an affair with the tempestuous Carmen. He is imprisoned and loses his job, then flees with her to the mountains. When the relationship starts to break down José refuses to acknowledge it and will not leave, even when he gets news that his mother is dying. Carmen, meanwhile, has taken up with the bullfighter Escamillo. Bizet's most famous opera is brought to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera by Sir Peter Hall, with Maria Ewing and Barry McCauley heading an international cast.

A Pain in the Ass

Ralf Milan, a hitman, arrives in Montpellier to kill an important witness. He checks in a hotel without knowing that his neighbour has become neurotic after his wife left him.

Black Thursday

In Paris, in 1942, on a Thursday, the Parisian police herded together some 13,000 Jews for deportation to German territory. In this story, Paul (Christian Rist) is a teenager who tries to prevent this from happening. At first he attempts to save two elderly Jews, but they are resigned to their fate and comply with the order to assemble. For a short while, he is able to keep Jeanne (Christine Pascal) from joining them, but, after a long and strenuous day, she finally escapes from him he is too tired to chase after her.

The Hundred Books: Alice in Wonderland

"This book is a descent into the soul of a child." On November 26th, 1865, Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was published. In this 1973 broadcast, we discover the genesis of this "masterpiece of the absurd" and delve into the depths of a child's soul, thanks to Jean Gattegno's fascinating analysis. As a bonus, Claude Rich reads us an excerpt from Alice's adventures.

Death of a Corrupt Man

In the middle of the night, deputy Philippe Dubaye wakes up his old friend Xavier Maréchal with disturbing news: he has just killed Serrano, a racketeer with extant political connections. Serrano kept proofs of Dubaye's involvement in corrupt dealings and was poised to use them against the deputy. Xavier readily agrees to cover up for his old pal Philippe, but he soon runs into difficulties. Nobody believes Dubaye's alibi. And everybody -- influential personalities, powerful businessmen, dubious go-betweens and the police -- wants to get hold of the documents that served to blackmail Dubaye; by all possible means...

The Bronte Sisters

In a small presbytery in Yorkshire, England, living under the watchful eyes of their aunt and father, a strict Anglican pastor, the Bronte sisters write their first works and quickly become literary sensations.

The Gang

In 1945, as World War Two comes to a close, five small time crooks unite to form a gang. After several bold robberies they become notorious as "the front-wheel drive gang". The police attempt to stop their crime spree with little success, but how long will their luck last?

For a Cop's Hide

Victim of manipulation, Cop Choucas is wanted for two murders and searched for by every cop in town.

Carmen - Glyndebourne Festival Opera

Don José is a guard who begins an affair with the tempestuous Carmen. He is imprisoned and loses his job, then flees with her to the mountains. When the relationship starts to break down José refuses to acknowledge it and will not leave, even when he gets news that his mother is dying. Carmen, meanwhile, has taken up with the bullfighter Escamillo. Bizet's most famous opera is brought to the Glyndebourne Festival Opera by Sir Peter Hall, with Maria Ewing and Barry McCauley heading an international cast.

A Pain in the Ass

Ralf Milan, a hitman, arrives in Montpellier to kill an important witness. He checks in a hotel without knowing that his neighbour has become neurotic after his wife left him.

Black Thursday

In Paris, in 1942, on a Thursday, the Parisian police herded together some 13,000 Jews for deportation to German territory. In this story, Paul (Christian Rist) is a teenager who tries to prevent this from happening. At first he attempts to save two elderly Jews, but they are resigned to their fate and comply with the order to assemble. For a short while, he is able to keep Jeanne (Christine Pascal) from joining them, but, after a long and strenuous day, she finally escapes from him he is too tired to chase after her.

The Hundred Books: Alice in Wonderland

"This book is a descent into the soul of a child." On November 26th, 1865, Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was published. In this 1973 broadcast, we discover the genesis of this "masterpiece of the absurd" and delve into the depths of a child's soul, thanks to Jean Gattegno's fascinating analysis. As a bonus, Claude Rich reads us an excerpt from Alice's adventures.

Death of a Corrupt Man

In the middle of the night, deputy Philippe Dubaye wakes up his old friend Xavier Maréchal with disturbing news: he has just killed Serrano, a racketeer with extant political connections. Serrano kept proofs of Dubaye's involvement in corrupt dealings and was poised to use them against the deputy. Xavier readily agrees to cover up for his old pal Philippe, but he soon runs into difficulties. Nobody believes Dubaye's alibi. And everybody -- influential personalities, powerful businessmen, dubious go-betweens and the police -- wants to get hold of the documents that served to blackmail Dubaye; by all possible means...

The Man Who Laughs

A three part film, based on the novel of the same title by Victor Hugo, telling of the adventures of two children, a blind girl and a badly scared boy, who are rescued and looked after by a vagabond.

The Right to Love

The tragedy of Helene and her husband Pierre, whose life is shattered when Pierre is kept as a political prisoner, while Helene is denied the right to visit him. A growing fear of losing her husband to tuberculosis takes over Helene, who does all she can to meet him, even for one last time.

Lucky Luke: The Ballad of the Daltons

The Dalton brothers are to receive their dead uncle's fortune if they eliminate the judge and jury responsible for his execution. And to accomplish this task, they must enlist the help of Lucky Luke.

Butterfly on the Shoulder

On a stopover in Barcelona, Fériaud Roland discovers a corpse in the hotel room next door. He wakes up in a strange clinic without remembering who brought him there. The doctor insists he hallucinated, but it's not long before he obtains evidence that it wasn't a dream.

Cher Victor

A pair of elderly men, friends for 40 years, find their relationship stressed when they set up housekeeping together in order to save money. Exploring similar ground to that covered in Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple, which spawned a movie and a television series, Ce Cher Victor explores the tragic and dramatic aspects of the story. The two friends, meek, sensitive Anselme (Bernard Blier) and blustering Victor (Jacques Dufilho) are swiftly driven apart by circumstances.

Would-Be Gentleman

Le Bourgeois gentilhomme satirizes attempts at social climbing and the bourgeois personality, poking fun both at the vulgar, pretentious middle-class and the vain, snobbish aristocracy. The title is meant as an oxymoron: in Molière's France, a "gentleman" was by definition nobly born, and thus there could be no such thing as a bourgeois gentleman.

L'Atlantide

Two young French officers get lost in the Sahara desert and find themselves prisoners of Antinéa, who rules over the lost city of Atlantis. Under her evil influence, one of them, blinded by his love for her, loses his mind and goes so far as to murder his comrade... Jean Kerchbron adapts Pierre Benoît's book for this film, which is more concerned with social reflection than fantasy.

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

Cadet Rousselle

Les Cent Livres des Hommes

Les Cent Livres des Hommes (ORTF, 1969-1973) was a series of literary programs created by Claude Santelli and Françoise Verny, and produced notably by Santelli, Jean Archimbaud, and Serge Moati. Planned for one hundred episodes but completed at thirty-nine, the series aimed to introduce great literary works, 'chefs-d’œuvre', to a younger audience through a mix of dramatization, reading, and documentary techniques. It marked a transfer of cultural legitimacy from writers and critics to a generation of television producers, offering a new model of educational and creative literary broadcasting - 'télévision d’auteur'.

The Accursed Kings

It is the start of the 14th century and Philip IV the Fair reigns supreme over France. His three sons would rule after him. Isabelle, his only daughter, is married to King Edward II of England. Under Philip's reign, France is great but its people are unhappy. Only one power dares to stand up to him: the order of the Knights Templar. When the last Grand Master of the Temple, Jacques de Molay, is burned at the stake, he curses Philip and so begins a dark period, full of blood and violence, death and tears ...

Au plaisir de Dieu

Over several generations, the story of an aristocratic French family spanning the 20th Century, from the two World Wars to the social and political upheavals of May 1968. Facing adversity, old Duke Sosthène tries to keep traditions alive.

The Man Who Laughs

A three-episode series, based on the novel of the same title by Victor Hugo, telling of the adventures of two children, a blind girl and a badly scared boy, who are rescued and looked after by a vagabond.