TF1 has imagined a series for “Monsieur Parizot”, with an Agatha Christie-style scenario. But fans will be deprived of the sequel for now…
One day you have to admit that the holidays are over and it is time to leave the campsite, even if it is a paradise… TF1, which has been banking on its successful series since 2006 Camping Paradisehas decided to innovate by offering, this Monday, October 7, 2024, a television film in two parts entitled “Monsieur Parizot”, named after the indescribable Christian Parizot (Patrick Paroux), an inveterate and somewhat cumbersome camper from the famous establishment run by Tom Delormes, alias Laurent Ournac.
The scenario of Mr Parizot takes an original approach: placing the retiree we know in flip-flops, socks and flowered shirts in a jacquard sweater and an outdated raincoat, in other words at home, in Alsace, near Colmar. All in a detective story halfway between Hercule Poirot and Agatha Christie. Parizot’s life outside the holidays is as well regulated as at the campsite and punctuated in particular by cycling, of which the retiree is a great fan, and by a devouring passion for criminal literature and detective films.
Except that one fine day, Mr. Parizot’s tidy daily life is disrupted by the death of his cycling companion, his great friend Dodo (Philippe Caroit), who dies in an accident. Convinced that it is in reality a murder and confident in his investigative skills, the valiant Parizot sets out to unmask the murderer in a castle which shelters the members of a family of the Alsatian nobility. He will be supported by a young gendarme (Clémence Lassalas) who will help him outside of any procedure, in the middle of a gallery of colorful portraits, where everyone tries to hide their secrets…
This evening event, in two episodes directed by Nicolas Copin and written by the faithful screenwriter Laurent Mondy, was scheduled for Monday October 7, 2024, in prime time on TF1. However, it is not a series, like Camping Paradiseat the start anyway. No sequel is planned either, to the great dismay of fans of the truculent character. In the event of audience success, the channel, on the other hand, indicated in October 2024 that it planned to transform this spin-off into a collection of TV films, with two to three episodes per year.
Mr Parizot could thus be inspired by other television UFOs like Captain Marlot, Alex Hugoor the collection of Murder at… on France Télévisions, which see episodes released at more or less regular intervals each year, without adopting the regularity or frequency of a series as such. Enough to reassure fans of Monsieur Parizot, a character as old-fashioned, clumsy as he is grumpy, but so endearing that he has established himself as one of the big stars of Camping Paradis.
At the casting of this first part, the essential Patrick Paroux, alias Christian Parizot, therefore responds to Philippe Caroit and Clémence Lassalas. With the latter, they will interview the victim’s relatives, from the Alsatian nobility, with a five-star cast including Carole Richert, Firmine Richard, Olivier Sitruk and Diane Dassigny.