The international popularity of Belgian series

29/09/2021

In just a few years, Belgian television series, both Flemish-speaking (Tabula Rasa, De Dag, Beau Séjour, Spitsbroers, De Ridder, Over Water) and French-speaking (La Trêve, Ennemi Public, Unité 42, e-Legal, Champion, Invisible, Coyotes, Baraki), have made their mark on the international media landscape thanks to their well-crafted scripts, plots that appeal to the collective memory, and shocking themes. We will mention two that are representative of this.

One is Public Enemy, released in Belgium in 2016, which tells the story of the mysterious disappearance of a little girl, while a notorious child murderer and manipulative narcissistic pervert, who has reached the end of his prison sentence, has asked to live out his parole in a local abbey. The series was scheduled the following year in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia and many other countries.

 

Flemish series Beau Séjour, broadcast in January 2017 on Eén, captured the attention of Arte and Netflix and was awarded the Audience Award at the Series Mania Festival. This story begins with a young woman waking up in the Beau Séjour hotel, covered in blood, with no memory of the previous night. In the bathroom lies a lifeless body, her own. She begins the search for her killer and discovers how her relatives react to her disappearance.

 

The successful French-language series are now also available on Auvio.