French TV series: La Mante, Starring Carole Bouquet

A triumph of gore wrapped up in a binge-worthy bow, it’s fair to say The Mantis strays from the comfortable confines of TV’s PG-fied crime genre. Carole Bouquet stars as Jeanne Deber, a vigilante-style serial killer serving a life sentence. When a copycat murderer begins imitating her crimes, she offers to lend her assistance.

But on one condition: her estranged son, Damien, who is now a police officer, must work by her side. The twisted love-child of Dexter and The Silence of the Lambs, the six-parter is sheer stomach-churning (if utterly gripping) fare. Master of gore Stephen King himself praised the blood-curdling show for reaching “previously unexplored realms of gruesomeness”. You’ve been warned.

Creators: Grégoire Demaison, Nicolas Jean

Starring: Carole Bouquet, Fred Testot

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From France Today magazine