Santonian Television

Kyle

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Téléromans (and feuilletons) are a popular television genre in Santonian television. Oftentimes narrowly translated to “soap operas”, téléromans are different from the usual soap operas in that: first, they have a pre-defined ending and rarely extend beyond several libres (“books”, “seasons” in other countries), which usually spans four months of airtime; and second, their topics are not limited to love and family stories (crime dramas in Saintonge will also be called a téléroman). The first téléroman was aired in 1951, with the television adaptation of the popular radio drama La famille Paquin, aired by the state broadcaster Saintonge Télévisions (STV).

At first, all series, regardless of genre, were called téléromans, but nowadays some non-drama productions are being called feuilletons télévisés (“television serials”). The major broadcasters in Saintonge – STV and Canal+ - still classify all serials as téléromans.

Nowadays Santonian téléromans are an important cultural export from Saintonge, being shown or dubbed in other countries. The country is also a notable producer of period dramas and fantasy series.

Examples of notable recent téléromans:
Château Gontrand
La Bête des Ravennes
Sans nichons il n’y a pas de paradis



OOC: This thread is about television shows in Saintonge, a significant cultural export of Saintonge. So if you want to have these shows aired in your country, feel free to go ahead! (They can also be dubbed.) If you have comments and suggestions, feel free to contact me on Discord. This is also a work in progress, I'll be adding more shows soon!
 
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Title card for Château Gontrand​
Château Gontrand​

Genre: Drama, Historical Fiction
Network: STV
No. of libres: 9
Year/s Aired: 2014-2017

Description: Château Gontrand is a historical drama centering on the Gontrands, a fictional pre-Revolution baronial family in southern Saintonge, their family strife, the challenges they face, and the Revolution.

Book 1
Book 1 explored the Gontrand family of Germandie. When the widower patriarch Philibert-Alexandre de Gontrand died, he willed that the family lands were to be divided between three of his sons: the eldest, Jean-Alexandre, got the title of Baron de Gontrand, plus the largest and most ancient family estates in the northern part of Germandie, and half of the family château. The two others, the twins Brice-Philibert and Bertrand-Patrice, divided up the remainder of the lands, mostly in the secluded Mélune valley (Valmélune).

The unusual inheritance arrangement made Jean-Alexandre angry. (Normally, younger sons of Santonian nobles become priests or soldiers and only the oldest inherits.) This set the stage for a family quarrel involving Jean-Alexandre’s family on one hand, and Brice-Philibert’s and Bertrand-Patrice’s families on the other. With them sharing the château, with Jean-Alexandre living on one wing and the twins on the other, family strife became ever fiercer, especially that it was only Jean-Alexandre who held the title of Baron de Gontrand. Jean-Alexandre’s machinations to get the entire inheritance were being constantly thwarted by people surrounding the twins (and even by his own wife Thérèse), including attempts to kill his siblings and their families.

Many of the subplots involve the treatment of the peasants. Jean-Alexandre was harsh with his peasants and subjects, treating them almost like slaves. When Jean-Alexandre’s daughter Anne-Charlotte was having a relationship with Adrien, the son of their longtime butler, Jean-Alexandre had Adrien’s entire family imprisoned and presumably killed. On the other hand, Brice-Philibert and Bertrand-Patrice were more humane and more respectful in dealings with people, just like their father before them. Brice-Philibert was well-loved in his lands, so much so that Jean-Alexandre’s peasants frequently escape to Brice-Philibert’s lands. Many times, their other brother, Father Charles-Lambert (a priest) and their sister, Marie-Francine (married to the son of the Duke of the Sologne), intercede and try to mediate between the quarrels, which sometimes extends to their children as well.
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The scene in which Brice-Philibert de Gontrand
(Sébastien-Daniel Boissonneault) rides off to war.

Books 2-3
Books 2-3 dealt with the upheavals caused by the Hunger War, a war that drew in interrelated families and pitted the Duke of the Sologne and the Duke of Germandie against each other. Formally vassals of Germandie, the Gontrands had to take up arms for their liege and against the family of Marie-Francine’s husband. With their estates sitting on the borderlands with the Sologne, the Gontrands’ family lands were devastated. In the course of the war, Bertrand-Patrice died in the Battle of Tilly-la-Campagne, leaving behind his wife Marie-Laurice and four children.

Brice-Philibert survived the war, but he was wounded and captured by the forces of the Duke of the Sologne in Tilly-la-Campagne as he tried to protect his liege. Jean-Alexandre’s cowardice (which led to the deaths of Bertrand-Patrice and the Duke of Germandie), on the other hand, did not escape unnoticed by the new Duke, who started to despise Jean-Alexandre.

While Brice-Philibert was imprisoned, his wife died during childbirth, and Marie-Francine had to intercede with her husband’s family to let her brother bury his wife and Bertrand-Patrice. Bertrand-Patrice’s will also stated that he will be leaving his possessions to his twin brother, on the condition that Brice-Philibert take care of Marie-Laurice and their children.

Germandie was part of the losing coalition in the Hunger War, and Germandie had to cede to the Sologne all lands on the north of the Mélune river. This put Brice-Philibert’s (including his inheritance from Bertrand-Patrice) estates on the Sologne side of the river, as was his half of the family château. Brice-Philibert was nearly evicted from his lands were it not for another intercession by Marie-Francine, who proposed that the Duke of the Sologne make Brice-Philibert a baron as well, this time of the Sologne. On the other side of the river, the new Duke of the Germandie, angry with Jean-Alexandre, stripped him of many of his estates in order to distribute to his newly-dispossessed vassals whose lands were ceded to the Sologne.

Book 4
Book 5 dealt with the radical changes in the family. Brice-Philibert eventually married Marie-Laurice, Bertrand-Patrice’s widow, further uniting their families. Jean-Alexandre’s resentment of his brother intensified as their social positions were reversed. Jean-Alexandre’s family was now impoverished and had smaller lands than the family of his now-affluent and newly-titled younger brother. Brice-Philibert’s estates eventually became one of the better-run and prosperous in the Sologne, thanks to his good treatment of workers and peasants.
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Peasants evict the Gontrands.

Book 5-7
The Santonian Revolution shattered what seemed to be a good ending. The Dukes of Germandie and the Sologne both sided with the rebellious nobles, while the peasants and commoners sided with the revolution. Jean-Alexandre’s peasants quickly chased him out of his lands, but Brice-Philibert’s peasants remained loyal. Both brothers were sent to fight for their lieges as part of the nobles’ armies. For Jean-Alexandre, it was a chance to show to his liege that he was a capable solider and so acted with bravery and cruelty, especially to peasants. For Brice-Philibert, it was a crisis of conscience. His liege, the Duke of the Sologne, was well-known for his savagery towards his subjects – very much his opposite. Moreover, Brice-Philibert sympathised with his subjects and was instrumental in protecting them against oppression. But he could not be seen openly siding with the revolutionaries given his sister’s position within the Duke of the Sologne’s family, and thus pretended to join the rebellion. Before he set out with the Sologne’s army, he entrusted his family to their loyal butler, Marcellin, and had them hide in disguise up in the forests of the Valmélune to protect them against marauding bands of commoners and peasants who controlled the countryside.

Many noble estates were being pillaged by these bands and the nobles there being killed. The largest and most feared of these bands in southern Saintonge was headed by Adrien, who escaped Jean-Alexandre’s tortures with the help of Brice-Lambert (Brice-Philibert’s eldest son) and Bertrand-Maurice (Bertrand-Patrice’s eldest son). When Adrien’s band neared Jean-Alexandre’s lands, he had it looted. Adrien also kidnapped Anne-Charlotte, who promptly joined the band. Anne-Charlotte’s brutish brother Luc-Alexandre was killed by the revolutionaries. The rest of the family who escaped were sheltered by Father Charles-Lambert in a monastery. Charles-Lambert, however, would be martyred by the Duke of the Sologne, crucified in front of the Cathedral of Loudun for aiding the revolutionary peasants. In (unsuccessfully) trying to save one of her brothers once again, Marie-Francine was banished from the ducal family, hiding in the monastery where Jean-Alexandre’s family were.

Brice-Philibert’s estates, however, aside from bring fiercely guarded by Brice-Philibert’s loyal workers, was spared by Adrien, despite the incessant urgings of Anne-Charlotte – who still harboured the instilled resentment against her uncles’ families. Later, Adrien would spill all of Jean-Alexandre’s misdeeds to Anne-Charlotte, destroying any remaining loyalty she might have had to his father.

Another different band of peasants stumbled upon the family of Brice-Philibert. Upon discovering them as nobles and not really knowing their background, they set out to torture and kill them as well. Adrien and Anne-Charlotte led their band to rescue most of Brice-Philibert’s family. Brice-Philibert’s family returned to their estate, protected by Adrien and his band, who then used the estate as their base.
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Part of the Battle of Blood River scene.

Book 8
News of the Battle of the Blood River shocked the country and the Gontrands. The slaughter of much of the country’s nobles in battle led their families to presume that both Jean-Alexandre and Brice-Philibert were dead. The resulting dispossession of the nobles meant that both branches of the Gontrands lost much of their wealth and lands. Brice-Philibert’s family willingly gave up the lands to their peasants and former workers as they could not manage the entire estate without their patriarch. Their former workers included them in the list of beneficiaries for land reform, so they retained a part of the land. Their share of the château was saved by a petition from the people of Valmélune to the departmental council of the Doire. Brice-Lambert, Brice-Philibert’s eldest son, soon returned, having faked his death after deserting the Duke of the Sologne’s army. Brice-Lambert assisted in the land distribution and proposed to set up a democratically-run cooperative in order to assist the new landowners in developing their lands and to continue the prosperity of the people of the Valmélune.

Jean-Alexandre’s family, on the other hand, resisted the redistribution and had to be physically evicted from their lands. They only managed to retain part of their estate with the intervention of Adrien, now a councilor in the departmental council of the Doire. Adrien, however, could not stop the government from expropriating Jean-Alexandre’s half of the château. In gratitude to Brice-Lambert and his family’s help, Brice-Lambert’s friends, partners, and members in the cooperative pooled their money to buy out the other half of the seized château for Brice-Lambert. Brice-Lambert then allowed Jean-Alexandre’s family - his cousins – to live in the château. Still, he had to remind his haughty cousins Jean-Philippe and Anne-Marguerite of their new positions in life.

Book 9
To the Gontrands’ surprise, Jean-Alexandre returned. He had cowardly snuck out of battle to hide in the forest and travelled back to the south. He was trying to claim his lands and the château again, resorting to all kinds of schemes and plots to regain his possessions. His attempt to kill Brice-Lambert failed spectacularly when Jean-Alexandre’s long-suffering wife Thérèse shielded Brice-Lambert from Jean-Alexandre’s gun. On her deathbed, Thérèse spilled a secret that Jean-Alexandre’s parents never told him: Jean-Alexandre was not the biological son of Philibert-Alexandre de Gontrand; Jean-Alexandre’s real father was the former Duke of Germandie. The Duke of Germandie had raped the young noblewoman Fabienne de Cérences, resulting in a pregnancy; to cover it up, the duke asked his best friend, Philibert-Alexandre de Gontrand, to spare him and Fabienne of the embarrassment and scandal by marrying Fabienne. Jean-Alexandre was the product of that crime; the rest of his siblings were the biological children of Philibert-Alexandre and Fabienne. This was the reason why Philibert-Alexandre left part of the inheritance to his eligible younger biological children (Brice-Philibert and Bertrand-Patrice). Thérèse said that Fabienne told her the truth before marrying Jean-Alexandre; and despite knowing this information, Thérèse still married him out of love.

Jean-Alexandre felt extreme guilt for Thérèse’s death and for all his misdeeds. He wrote up a long letter addressed to his family, apologizing for all his wrongdoings. He then went to the forests of Valmélune with his gun to kill himself. However, his plan was thwarted when a one-eyed masked stranger grabbed the revolver from his hands. The one-eyed stranger took Jean-Alexandre to his cabin in the forest and took him in; there, over dinner, Jean-Alexandre spilled his story and his desire to depart the world as reparation for all his transgressions, especially to his brothers.

That morning, the one-eyed masked stranger revealed himself to be Brice-Philibert, who then forgave his older brother. Brice-Philibert also survived the Battle of the Blood River. Close to death from his battle wounds, Brice-Philibert was recognized by one of his former workers, Kilian, who was with the Sacred Heart Band. Kilian was one of those serfs that Brice-Philibert saved from Jean-Alexandre’s cruelty. In return for Brice-Philibert’s kindness, Kilian nursed him back to health in Saintes. After almost a year, Brice-Philibert could now function normally, but he was blinded in one eye and was rendered unrecognizable from his wounds. Brice-Philibert returned to the Valmélune to search for his family – having left them in the forest, it was the first place he searched. Jean-Alexandre told his brother that his family was doing well – a fact that Brice-Philibert said he already knew. Brice-Philibert told Jean-Alexandre that he was afraid of his family’s reaction to his face and condition. Brice-Philibert had been staying in the cabin for almost a week already, trying to decide on what to do next. Jean-Alexandre convinced his brother that the family will accept him and is waiting for him.

Jean-Alexandre and Brice-Philibert, now reconciled with each other, returned to their family. Brice-Philibert died a few months later from poor health. Jean-Alexandre became a changed man, and with a small amount of capital borrowed from the cooperative, he began a successful import-export business for the products of the cooperative. Brice-Lambert continued the legacy of his father; Bertrand-Maurice became a priest. Marie-Francine lived out the rest of her days as a nun in a convent.

Comments: Château Gontrand is considered to be one of the greatest period dramas produced in Saintonge, with an ensemble cast, detailed props and costumes, and much-praised depictions of battle scenes and the life before, during, and after the Revolution. It won multiple awards in Saintonge and has acquired a strong following in the country, even among those who do not usually watch téléromans. The real-life château where the film was shot, the Château des Orglandes (Doire), became an instant tourist attraction.
 
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Title card for La Bête des Ravennes​
La Bête des Ravennes
“The Beast of the Ravennes”

Genre: Thriller/Mystery, Historical Fiction
Network: STV
No. of libres: 2
Year/s Aired: 2017-2018

Description: The Ravennes, 1822. The mountains of the Ravennes are terrorised by a fearsome man-eating animal. Marc-Thibéry Savorgne de Rotherens, the new Royal Master of the Hunt, was dispatched to the Ravennes to catch the beast. Is it just a wolf, or something more sinister?

Comments: Coming on the heels of Château Gontrand, La Bête des Ravennes continues STV’s tradition of quality period dramas. La Bête des Ravennes is a fictionalised thriller-mystery based on the “man-eating” beast which killed dozens of people in the Ravennes in the 1820s.
 
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Title card for Sans nichons il n’y a pas de paradis​
Sans nichons il n’y a pas de paradis
“Without boobs there is no paradise”

Genre: Drama
Network: Canal+
No. of libres: 4
Year/s Aired: 2011-2012

Description: Catherine Desputeaux had nothing. But she wanted everything. She will do whatever she needs to do to get it - including using her pair of assets.

Comments: An oddball téléroman, Sans nichons il n’y a pas de paradis features an anti-hero, played by Anne-Marie Calméjane. Catherine Desputeaux grew up in an orphanage and dreamed of having everything – wealth, fame, and love. She started using manipulating others around her using her charms (and her voluptuous bosom) to get what she wants.
 
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Title card for Sûreté de Saintes​
Sûreté de Saintes
“Saintes Police”

Genre: Police Procedural Drama
Network: STV
No. of libres: 10
Year/s Aired: 2013-2016

Description: The City of Saintes is known for its peace and order. But underneath that seemingly saintly exterior lies webs of crimes that must be suppressed.

Comments: A police procedural drama set in the Santonian capital, Sûreté de Saintes became popular, with a spin-off Sûreté de Côme (2016-2017) and the related Le bourreau de Nyon.
 
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Title card for Le bourreau de Nyon​
Le bourreau de Nyon
“The executioner of Nyon”

Genre: Historical Fiction, Police Procedural Drama
Network: STV
No. of libres: 3 (ongoing)
Year/s Aired: 2018-present

Description: In 17th century Nyon, the name Achille Harmand would send chills down anyone’s spine. The City of Nyon’s Official Executioner, hundreds of convicted criminals would meet their end at Harmand’s hands. This is Herman’s story, and the stories of his clients.

Comments: STV’s period drama production team does police procedural drama in Le bourreau de Nyon. (One commenter said that “When you mix up Château Gontrand with Sûreté de Saintes, you get Le bourreau de Nyon.”) Told from the viewpoint of Achille Harmand, Nyon’s (fictional) official hangman, each episode (or two) features a crime, its perpetrator, and the fates of the people involved.
 
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Title card for Le petit héro​
Le petit héro
“The little hero”

Genre: Fantasy
Network: STV
No. of libres: 2 (ongoing)
Year/s Aired: 2019-present

Description: Brice-Maximilien “Max” Battellier looks like a typical ten-year old: juggling schoolwork, sports, family life, and friends. Max can be the decent student, the unimpressive football player, the good son and brother, or the nice friend, depending on what your relationship is to him. But to the city, he is their unknown, unsung little hero.

Comments: One of the few téléromans made and marketed especially to the young audience, le petit hero is the story of Max, a ten-year old who suddenly discovers he had superpowers. Resolving to harness his powers for good, he discreetly uses his powers to help people in his city.
 
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Title card for Lancou
Lancou

Genre: Fantasy, Crime Drama
Network: Skinwel bethoneg/Télévision béthonne
No. of libres: 2 (ongoing)
Year/s Aired: 2020-present

Description:
The feared psychopomp of Bethanian mythology, Ankou worked for millennia fetching souls of the dead and ferrying them to heaven or hell. After one carnage too many (“Damn Prydanians gave me a lot of work!”), the exhausted Ankou opted to leave much of the work to his friends and subordinates, simply delegating and overseeing the transport of souls from Earth.

Assuming human form, Ankou went by the name Lazare Lancou, who operates a trucking business out of Béthanie. He met Tifenn Morvan, head of the Béthanie branch of the Service de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale (SSJML), Saintonge’s forensic service. Smitten by the mortal, Lancou agreed to help Morvan’s investigations as a consultant to SSJML, using his knowledge of the dead to catch killers in Bethany.

Comments: Set in the northwestern province of Bethany, Lancou is a popular bilingual Bethanian-Santonian series. It is a mainstream breakthrough for the regional Skinwel bethoneg/Télévision béthonne, a television station funded by the seven Bethanian-speaking northwestern Santonian departments. The series became popular in the streaming service Interflix, which is also based in Bethany.
 
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Santonian-Prydanian Co-Productions

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After the Prydanian Civil War, Santonian state broadcaster Saintonge Télévisions (STV) helped the Prydanian Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) rebuild and create content, in which the Prydanian diaspora in Saintonge was crucial in helping develop. STV and RÚV maintains close ties to this day, and are involved in multiple co-productions that are popular in both Prydania and Saintonge. Here are some of the Santonian-Prydanian Co-Productions.



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Title card for Epli fyrir kennarann/ Pommes pour la maîtresse
Epli fyrir kennarann/ Pommes pour la maîtresse
“Apples for the Teacher”
Genre:
Drama
Network: STV-RÚV
No. of libres: 3
Year/s Aired: 2019-present

Description: When the e-curie programme made a call for schoolteachers to educate children in postwar Prydania in 2017, Kassandra Marthedal quickly volunteered. She was born and raised in Saintonge, but her parents were both Prydanian refugees. She was assigned to Björgvin, a small village in the Black Hills of western Prydania. She had to work with little: a ravaged, overcrowded battle-scarred schoolhouse and lack of supplies; she worked for the most vulnerable - traumatised children, and war orphans from a nearby small work camp. Despite the adversity, Marthedal becomes well-loved and appreciated in her impoverished community.



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Title card for Yfir hafið og til baka/ Au-dessus des mers et retour
Yfir hafið og til baka/ Au-dessus des mers et retour
"Over the seas and back"
Genre:
Drama
Network: STV-RÚV
No. of libres: 4
Year/s Aired: 2018-present

Description: To many in Prydania, Saintonge is the land of milk and honey. But refugees and immigrants do not have the life of comfort in Saintonge: an alien, foreign country with a different language, religion, and culture. The series focuses on the struggles of Prydanian refugee families, trying to rebuild a new life and fit in their new, adopted country. Each season features a different fictional Prydanian immigrant family in Saintonge.



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Title card for Allt fyrir Prydansk/ Tout pour la Prydanie
Allt fyrir Prydansk/ Tout pour la Prydanie
"All for Prydania"
Genre:
Reality Show
Network: STV-RÚV
No. of libres: 3
Year/s Aired: 2019-present

Description: This is a reality television show featuring Santonians of Prydanian extraction who return to their roots. Mostly involving Prydanian-Santonians who were born and raised in Saintonge, the programme provides the participants information about their ancestral families and hometowns by visiting some of the locations where they lived. The cast learns about Prydania's culture, customs, food, and quirks. Cast members leave the show after losing challenges (such a trivia quizzes, eating yucky Prydanian food, etc.). A winner is named at the end of the show by a jury and an audience vote in both Prydania and Saintonge.


OOC Notes: Post approved by @Prydania. Thanks for the STV-RÚV logo too!
 
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Title card for La Reine Réticente
La Reine Réticente | Trega drottningin
“The Reluctant Queen”
Genre: Drama, Historical Drama
Network: STV-RÚV coproduction
No. of libres: 7
Year/s Aired: 2019-2021

Description: La Reine Réticente | Trega drottningin is a Santonian-Prydanian co-production telling the story of the 19th century Queen Luta Loðbrók of Saintonge, a rebellious Prydanian princess to stowed away for love and renounced the comfortable and glorious life prepared for her… only to have it come full circle later on.

Storyline (spoilers!)
Book 1

The series starts in Prydania, where as a young child, the elder daughter of King Rikard IV of Prydania (Rune Skakkebaek), Luta Loðbrók (Kristrún Midtbö), was being groomed to rule the country. King Rikard IV had no sons, and Luta was the crown princess.

Luta, however, chafed under the regimented royal court life, struggling with the demands and expectations for a girl destined to become the queen of a country.

In her teenage years, Luta (Gytta Soltvedt) started to rebel even more. Luta’s parents had been pressuring her to find someone in the nobility, such as the haughty eldest son of the Thane of Jórvík (Gaston-Baldr Kollerup) or the ambitious third son of the Thane of Eiderwig (Sigurthór Knuth). King Rikard IV even tried to arrange marriages with foreign princes. Luta and her loyal servant Metta (Álfrún Bödskov) ingeniously frustrated many of these pairings.

Luta did fall in love eventually... but with Koðrán (Kolbjörn Nylund), the son of a Royal Guard. Koðrán gave Luta a taste of what life was like outside the walls of the Palace grounds. Koðrán and Luta would sneak out, disguised as commoners, into the city of Býkonsviði, then a thriving port in the Auburn Sea.

However, Koðrán, a commoner, and Luta, a royal princess (and the crown princess of Prydania at that) were socially incompatible. When King Rikard IV found out about Koðrán, he forcefully separated the two teenagers. However, Koðrán and Luta still found ways to meet, and when King Rikard IV found out, he punished Koðrán and his family by transferring Koðrán and his father (Ásthór Nylund) from the Royal Guard to the Prydanian Army, which was being sent away to fight in the Second Nordic-Syrixian War.

Koðrán and his father perished in the war, something that made Luta furious at her father and angry at her lot in life. With her young love dead and despising her cushy but constrained life, Luta wanted out of the figurative cage that she was in.

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Luta after learning that Koðrán died in the war.

Book 2
Luta, with the help of Metta, started doing what she and Koðrán used to do – sneak out to the city. Wearing commoner's clothes, the disguised Luta would wander the city, usually alone. At the docks of Býkonsviði where she and Koðrán used to watch passing ships, somebody noticed her.

Brice de Montescourt (Maximilien Semundseth) was a teenaged sailor-apprentice aboard the Santonian ship Aurore, which was making regular annual trips between Prydania and Bâle, in Saintonge. Formerly apprenticed to his maternal uncle in Vallauris, who was a baker and confectioner, it was Brice the provincial boy’s first trip on a ship.

Brice’s father, Thibault (Gabriel-Gaël Guermeur) was a seasoned sailor and part-owner of Aurore. He took his only son in as an apprentice, hoping that he would continue in the family business. Having a fortnight’s stop in the Prydanian capital, Thibault let his son explore the city. That was when Brice noticed the forlorn Luta by the dockside.

Having heard of numerous stories about sailor’s widows and girls waiting for their beloved to come back, Brice assumed Luta was one of them. Brice found Luta’s situation similar to that of his mother Pauline (Ernestine Collin de Gourgues) every time his father goes out to sea. It was also the reason why it was just at the age of eighteen did Brice set out to sail – his mother was against him becoming a sailor too.

Brice struck up a conversation with Luta and tried to comfort her. At first Luta was dismissive of the foreigner. But on the second day that Luta was out in the docks, Brice found her again and earnestly insisted on helping her. Luta told Brice about Koðrán but did not reveal her true identity.

For the next few days, Luta and Brice met at the same spot at the dockyards, hanging out and talking about life and their dreams. Luta had to conjure up a made-up life that she dreamed of – away from the rigours of a cosseted life, “just an ordinary person” as she told Brice.

Brice was smitten by the Prydanian girl who spoke Santonian (she made up the excuse that her high-born mother was a tutor to children of wealthy families in Býkonsviði), something that was not actually common in Prydania at that time. Páll (Anders Wighammer-Brinch), the innkeeper at the nearest dockside tavern, backed up the story about “Lotte Rikardsotter”, which he genuinely thought was the name of Luta. (It was a made-up name by Koðrán so that she won’t be recognised.)

As Brice’s time in Prydania was up, Luta realised that she had become enamoured by the dashing young Santonian sailor. The stories he painted about Saintonge – a sunny land of warm people – appealed to Luta. Saintonge was a continent away and far from the reach of her father.

Before Brice left, the pair confessed their feelings for each other, but Luta got cold feet. She wanted to test Brice first. Brice promised Luta that he will wait – if she could wait. They swore to meet each other next year at the same place, same date.

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Brice and Luta confessing their feelings for each other.

Book 3
Unlike the stereotype of most sailors, who had a wife/girlfriend at every port, Brice de Montescourt stayed loyal to the Prydanian girl he met in Býkonsviði. He clearly took after his father Thibault, joked Gilles (Marc-Gauthier Lespiault), one of his father’s sailor friends and one of the co-owners of Aurore. Thibault neither encouraged nor stopped his son, who wrote letters to Luta at Aurore’s every port of call. “I did that for your mother too,” Thibault told Brice.

Back in Prydania, Luta eagerly waited and cherished the letters Brice was sending via Páll, the half-blind semi-senile innkeeper who she tricked to believe she was someone else. Luta paid Páll to receive Brice’s letters on her behalf, which she picked up every time she wandered the city in disguise. She could not reply because Brice was at sea with no permanent return address, but he told her about the new lands he was seeing and how he wanted to take her with him. Brice promised Luta “Santonian flowers” when he came back. Luta’s dream became more and more vivid and detailed, like Brice was painting the future life that she wanted.

When Brice returned to Býkonsviði, Luta was not there waiting for him. Brice was almost crushed, thinking that his love was gone. Luta had missed sneaking out because of her father’s suspicions; the King had scheduled a ball for her and her younger sister Alexandria (Filippa Klungland) that day.

Luta returned the next day to their designated spot and Brice was not there. She hurried down to the docks and sought out Aurore. There, she found the sad Brice, who became overjoyed when she found him again. She had to conjure even more excuses about why she wasn’t there on the designated date, an excuse that Brice accepted. It was on that day that Brice introduced Luta to his father Thibault and his sailor friends.

Although Brice was happy to see her back, he teased her about not fulfilling her promise. Luta shot back: “you also promised me ‘Santonian flowers’. You have no flowers for me.” Shocked that Luta remembered that, Brice realised that Luta had been receiving, reading, and appreciating the letters he had been sending her. Brice absentmindedly promised Luta the Santonian flowers, a promise that his father overheard. When Luta left, Thibault de Montescourt told his son: “Where are you going to get flowers in the middle of a Prydanian winter? You promised too much.”

Book 4
Having two days before meeting Luta again, Brice racked his brains on where to get the flowers he promised. And then came an idea – make the flowers. Having been apprenticed to a baker and confectioner, Brice knew how to make marzipan fruits and flowers. Brice toiled day and night making a bouquet of marzipan flowers using some of the almonds that their ship was supposed to sell in Prydania. (Almonds do not thrive in Prydania and are a delicacy in the northern nation.)

Brice surprised Luta with the (literally) sweet gift of a bouquet of marzipan flowers the next time they met. Luta was surprised about receiving flowers in the middle of the winter! A sweet gift from a sweet guy! She fell in love even more with Brice, who was proud of his handiwork.

Luta couldn’t eat it all, though, so she brought some home for Metta to try. However, it nearly brought her into more trouble. Luta’s mother (Hendrikka Grodaas-Bouchereau) discovered the marzipan flower bouquet and demanded to know where Luta got it. Her parents were becoming more and more suspicious of her frequent disappearances from the Royal Palace.

Luta also sensed this and realised that if her parents found out about Brice, it would be all over for them and her dreams of a quiet life in Saintonge. Aurore was set to leave that night, maybe it was the time?

So Luta packed a few things – some money, a golden locket with a miniature painting of the royal family, a few jewels, some small valuable and sentimental possessions – into a purse and went out again in disguise for the last time. She didn’t take much for fear of alerting her family as to her disappearance.

Luta met Brice again and begged him to take her on his ship, which was about to sail away. Brice was eager to take her in; his father, not so much. However, Gilles and his father’s friends, co-owners of Aurore, egged Thibault to allow to his son to bring his fiancée in. Luta became the only woman on board Aurore as it sailed away from Prydania.

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Luta’s family discusses her disappearance.

Book 4
The sailors and crew of Aurore gave Brice de Montescourt and “Lotte Rikardsdotter” a sailor’s wedding at Aurore’s next port of call, Norvalle. Meanwhile, back in Prydania, it became a scandal as the Crown Princess of Prydania disappeared without a trace. Rumours circulated that she was kidnapped by a greedy noble or by their Syrixian enemies in the war. A few years later, King Rikard IV gave up Luta for dead and instead made Alexandria the crown princess of Prydania.

On Aurore, Brice and Luta started to live as a couple. Being the only woman aboard the ship, Luta attracted unwanted attention. A drunk François (Hreinn Falck), Gilles’ son, attempted to rape Luta; Brice had to physically fight François to stop him. François ended up stabbing Brice, who nearly died and was saved thanks to the interventions of Martin (Joseph-Lambert Peyssard), the Aurore’s naval surgeon.

At Thibault’s insistence, Aurore headed back to Bâle to let Brice recuperate and to have François face the admiralty tribunal. Luta and Brice settled in Brice’s hometown of Vallauris, where Pauline helped her son regain health. It was also when Luta found out that she was pregnant.

The young couple lived happily in Vallauris for a few years with their growing family. Soon, Brice had to return to being a sailor, but he remained loyal and loving to Luta. “Lotte” never told Brice or her in-laws about her true identity. This was despite Brice’s mother Pauline learning that she actually descended from minor nobility – she was a long lost daughter of a baron in the Griffonné whose line was presumed extinct after the Santonian Revolution. It triggered flashbacks and a personal quandary in Luta, who, despite avoiding reading the newspapers, knew from the seafaring community that her disappearance provoked a crisis in Prydania.

Luta opted to stay silent. “Lotte” was, after all, living the simple, ‘ordinary’ life she had dreamed of with her loving Santonian husband and their children: Johanne-Pauline and Éric-Ketille.

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Brice and Luta with their son Éric-Ketille.

Book 5
In 1840s Saintonge, there was a succession crisis. Pope-King Justin I was celibate and had no descendants – the Santonian Royal Family was extinct in the male line. Thus the Santonian government started inquiries regarding the female-line descendants of King Charles IX of Saintonge. In 1847, the Santonian government official in charge of the investigation, Gilbert-Pierre Laudonnière (Timothée de Saint-Ogan) informed Pauline de Montescourt (Brice’s mother) that she was the last living descendant of King Charles IX of Saintonge!

Laudonnière was there when Brice arrived home from his most recent seafaring trip. Laudonnière told Brice what it was and what it meant. Brice and Pauline were floored.

The Montescourts were invited by Pope-King Justin I of Saintonge (Gustave-Émile Faulcon du Couëdic) to the Royal Palace in Saintes. The Pope-King wanted to meet his distant relatives and told them they were to become royals!

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Brice de Montescourt and “Lotte” meeting the Pope-King of Saintonge.

The Pope-King told them that they will be King and Queen of Saintonge later on; Pauline had already declined to become the heir to the throne, saying that “I’m too old, my son Brice can handle that better.”

“Lotte” managed to dodge most of the questions the Pope-King threw about her and her identity; all she said was that she was Prydanian. The Pope-King, obviously sensing that “Lotte” was hiding something, ominously told her: “truth will set you free.”

Luta’s behaviour also aroused the concern in Brice, who was embarrassed by her evasion and piqued by the mystery. Luta, on the other hand, was flustered and apprehensive after she was told that she was to become the Queen of Saintonge – being a queen was precisely the fate that she wanted to avoid that’s why she eloped with a foreign sailor!

Brice, noticing the change in Luta’s behaviour, started to question her. Finally, “Lotte” broke down and admitted everything to Brice.

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Luta admitting her true identity to Brice.

Contrary to Luta’s expectations that her husband will despise her for lying and living a lie, Brice just hugged her and told her: “It’s your destiny to be queen, my love. Destiny finds you.”

Book 6
Laudonnière brought back news that the Santonian Parliament have approved the legislation making Brice de Montescourt the Crown Prince of Saintonge and the successor to Pope-King Justin I. Pauline and Brice and his young family were invited to live in the Royal Palace as royals, something that Luta had an odd familiarity with.

The family resolved to tell Laudonnière about “Lotte”’s identity. Laudonnière said that it might provoke problems with Prydania, where Luta’s younger sister, Alexandria (Gissunn Kojedal-Hambro) is now the reigning queen after King Rikard IV died a few years earlier. Luta resurfacing might complicate Alexandria’s hold on the throne; it may also be seen as an attempt by Saintonge to take over Prydania. Laudonnière asked the new royals to wait for now before revealing anything publicly.

Laudonnière also wanted confirm the claims of “Lotte.” Laudonnière invited the Prydanian ambassador to Saintonge Ormar Laufland (Laurent-Tobias Hyllestad) to interview the Crown Princess of Saintonge – Prydania already knew that the wife of the Crown Prince of Saintonge was Prydanian.

“Lotte” told her entire story to Laudonnière and Laufland. Laufland demanded proof. Luta produced the locket with the miniature paining of the royal family, along with some jewels and proof of her parentage – things that she had kept from her husband all those years. Everyone was surprised, and convinced, by the revelations. Even Brice was surprised. His wife was indeed the heir to the throne for longer than he was!

Both Laudonnière and Laufland wanted to consult their governments first. Luta became very much anxious and miscarried her pregnancy. She was anxious that she would be queen. She was anxious that she would let her husband down. Or even worse, she was anxious that the affair over her identity would lead to her husband being disgraced and the title taken away from them just to prevent issues with Prydania – this was something that Laufland openly raised with Laudonnière.

Brice lovingly supported his wife throughout the entire ordeal, telling her that “they can take the crown prince away from me but I will never let them take my Luta away from me.” He also said “so what if I am no longer crown prince? I will just set sail again.”

Book 7
Luta’s resurfacing provoked a crisis and consternation in Prydania. Queen Alexandria never wanted the throne too, but she wouldn’t just let Luta come and claim it. And then there were also complications if Brice de Montescourt became King of Saintonge and Luta became the Queen of Prydania – will it mean that Saintonge and Prydania would become united as one country?

As Brice, Luta, and their family were adjusting to court life, diplomacy was ongoing to resolve the issue. It was no longer a personal issue, but a political and dynastic issue. Brice tried to shield his wife from the intrigues. Finally, in 1853, the Santonian and Prydanian governments hammered out a compromise – the Treaty of Fontainebleau, wherein Luta renounced her claim to the Prydanian throne, letting Alexandria reign. The Treaty stipulated that if Alexandria’s male line becomes extinct, Luta’s line would inherit.

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Luta as Queen of Saintonge.

The two sisters – queens of Prydania and Saintonge – reunited for Luta’s coronation in 1855. It was an emotional reunion, where Luta had to tell her story and explain her reasons for leaving to her younger sister. Her younger sister who was now addled with all the responsibilities of being the Queen of Prydania.

The two sisters parted on a good note, with Queen Alexandria of Prydania signing the Treaty of Fontainebleau before leaving. Both promised that they will see each other again, someday.
 
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Title card for Furryland!​

Furryland!
It’s not a theme park… but life is a circus!


Genre: Sitcom
Network: Interflix
No. of libres: 1
Year/s Aired: 2024-


Description: Furryland! is a sitcom centred around Stéphane, a dim-witted young man who has finally found full-time work, as a mascot performer. Most of the time, he works as a performer in a rat costume for the children-oriented restaurant F. Romage, which serves pizza and various cheese-based dishes while having arcade games inside. During game days, he also serves as the person inside Phoque Hugh, a seal mascot of the local fourth-tier ice hockey team Phoques du Port Salut.

Thing get more interesting and dicier when Stéphane (who identifies as a straight male) gets sucked into the world of gay furrydom, something that he neither intended nor wanted. He got exposed to it while pursuing his love interest Justine, the costume-maker who makes both the Franck Romage and Phoque Hugh costumes, whose side hustle is making fursuits for furries.

Quotes:
“Have you seen the people inside mascots? Mascot people are JACKED. They must be capable of running and doing backflips, all while sweating inside that costume.”

“YOU SUCK BIG RAT!!”

“Everyone can be a better costume connoisseur than Justin Brudeau.”

Comments: Furryland! makes extensive use of double entendres and ironies for its humour. For example, the name of the seal mascot, Phoque Hugh (“Hugh the Seal”), sounds much like the expression “F*ck You”. The name of the town, Port Salut, is a type of cheese.
 
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Title card for Alwena la Cheftaine
Alwena la Cheftaine | Alwena ar C'heginer
“Alwena the Chieftain”

Genre: Historical Fantasy
Network: Skinwel bethoneg/Télévision béthonne
No. of libres: 5 (ongoing)
Year/s Aired: 2020-present

Description:
Set in pre-Umbrial Saintonge, the titular character in Alwena la Cheftaine is the only daughter of the chieftain of the Veneti tribe, a member of the Bethonic Confederation. After her father, her brothers, and much of the menfolk die in battle, the defeated Veneti names her as their chieftain. Assuming the role of a warrior princess, Alwena must then lead the tribe to avenge their losses and secure its place in the Confederation.

Comments: Another popular "B-Drama" ("Bethanian Drama"), it is another mainstream breakthrough for the regional Skinwel bethoneg/Télévision béthonne. After being acquired by Interflix in 2021, the national broadcaster STV also picked it up for national distribution in 2022 - a curious, rare case of two entities holding rights for the same programme. The difference is that Interflix subtitles the show (the show's dialogue is in Bethanian), while STV dubs the show into Santonian. Its great availability has greatly expanded the popularity of the series, and is one of the most profitable series that Skinwel bethoneg/Télévision béthonne has made.
 
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Title card for Grâce salvatrice
Grâce salvatrice | Gras saveteiñ
“Saving Grace”

Genre: Medical drama
Network: Skinwel bethoneg/Télévision béthonne
No. of libres: 4 (ongoing)
Year/s Aired: 2020-present

Description:
Grâce salvatrice is a Bethanian-language medical drama centred on the character Marie-Grâce (Mari-Gras) Bleunven, a nun who is training to become a surgeon. A novice from the non-cloistered Bethanian religious institute C'hoarezed an Drugarez (« Sœurs de la Miséricorde », "Sisters of Mercy"), Marie-Grâce was spurred into studying medicine after seeing the needs of the Erruki ospitale that the Sisters of Mercy was operating in an impoverished area of Oklusia. After one year of service in Erruki, and seven years of medical school in Saintonge, the prospective nun Marie-Grâce went into surgery residency after learning that the longtime surgeon at Erruki would be retiring soon. Marie-Grâce was accepted into the training programme of the Ospital Hollek in Béthanie. Grâce salvatrice is the story of Marie-Grâce's training to become a surgeon.

Comments:
The title Grâce salvatrice has multiple meanings, taking in the name of the main character Marie-Grâce. The Ospital Hollek is based off the Royal Bethanian Hospital (Ospital roueel bethoneg), the largest training hospital in Bethany. Most of the story revolves around Marie-Grâce's co-trainees, around which the majority of the storylines revolve:
  • Timothée Le Chanjour, Marie-Grâce's classmate from medical school and close friend. He harbours a secret love for Marie-Grâce, but because she is a prospective nun, he could not make his advances.
  • Capt. Corentin Keraudran, a Royal Santonian Army captain who is training to become an army surgeon. His training is being sponsored by the military.
  • Elvin Moëlo, a flame-haired socially-awkward nerd. He otherwise has brilliant surgical skills.
  • Lukaz Huruguen, a hyper-masculine stereotypical male surgeon with a domineering personality. However, it is all a façade as he has a traumatic past.
  • Gwenaël Cornec, a smart trainee with a very bubbly personality. Like Lukaz, she is also hiding a traumatic past.
  • Geneviève (Jenovefa) Mellouët-Kervaon, a single mother with a young child. She juggles family life with chasing her dreams.
 
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