Plus belle la vie
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''Plus belle la vie'' (More beautiful life) is a French television
soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
based on an idea by Hubert Besson and characters created by Georges Desmouceaux, Bénédicte Achard, Magaly Richard-Serrano and Olivier Szulzynger. On air since 30 August 2004, it is currently shown on
France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services providing ...
on Monday to Friday evenings at 8:15 p.m. The show began with 17 main actors and gained more later. On 11 July 2008, France 3 broadcast its 1000th episode, a milestone in French television. The series set a second record on 8 June 2012, airing its 2000th episode. On 22 April 2016, it broadcast its 3000th episode, and on 21 February 2020, its 4000th.


Plot

The series follows the daily lives of the inhabitants of "Le Mistral", a fictional neighbourhood in the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
port city of
Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, where wealthy and less than wealthy families co-exist. It focuses on their evolving love lives and friendships evolve and on the criminal intrigues in which certain residents of the neighbourhood are involved.


Main cast


Recurring Cast


Impact

The series struggled to find its footing in the first season, but after striving to create more dynamic story lines, by the second season ''Plus belle la vie'' enjoyed regular audiences of five million viewers. On Valentine's Day 2006, a plot involving Nicolas Barrel's death drew an audience of 6,329,600. On 17 November 2008 ''Plus belle la vie'' received its highest ratings ever with over 6.8 million viewers and a 24.9% audience share. For several years, the series regularly averaged audiences in excess of 5 million viewers and audience shares above 20% each weekday evening. In recent seasons, its viewing numbers have gradually declined. This ratings slump worsened at the onset of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
and, on 5 May 2022, France Télévisions announced the end of the series which will take place on 18 November 2022, following "a substantial shift in viewing habits" after 18 years on air.


See also

*
List of French television series This is a list of television programs that have been produced by France. It includes series made by France alone as well as those produced in collaboration with various other countries. Almost all are in the French language; exceptions to this rule ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control 2000s French drama television series 2004 French television series debuts 2010s French drama television series France 3 France Télévisions television dramas French LGBT-related television shows French television soap operas Television series about families Television shows set in France Television productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020s French drama television series Television shows set in Marseille