Broadchurch set for French remake

France 2 is lining up a local adaptation of British drama Broadchurch, which is proving a hit for the channel in primetime.

Four writers are currently working on the French version of the series, Shine France stated in the Le Parisien newspaper this morning.

Yesterday, the two final episodes of Broadchurch, scheduled by France 2 in primetime, reached a high 6.5 million viewers and a 23.8% share, enabling the pubcaster to lead and beat TF1’s well-rated series Josephine Ange Gardien.

The series gained 400,000 viewers on the previous week, though it launched higher at 6.7 million viewers. Broadchurch is also a hit in catch-up, with the first episode having gained an additional 800,000 viewers over seven days.

Broadchurch, produced by Kudos Film & Television, took over from France 2 hit series Castle three weeks ago in its Monday foreign series strand, so far occupied only by US series.

The Monday strand is France 2’s most popular – the channel often equalling or leading on TF1, thanks in the past to series such as Without A Trace and Cold Case, and more recently Castle. The latter gave France 2 its highest audience last year of seven million viewers and a 23.7% share.

Broadchurch’s success represents a major inroad for a British series, as European series do have strands on channels such as France 3 or more niche ones, but are very rarely broadcast in primetime on major channels such as France 2.