''Dolmen'' is a French TV

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

consisting of six 90 minute-long episodes, and starring

Ingrid Chauvin Ingrid Chauvin (; born 3 October 1973) is a French television and stage actress, known for her roles in the miniseries ''Méditerranée'', ''Dolmen'', and the police procedural series ''Femmes de loi''. Early life and career Ingrid Chauvin was ...

. It was written by

Nicole Jamet Nicole may refer to: People * Nicole (name) * Nicole (American singer) (born 1958), a contestant in season 3 of the American ''The X Factor'' * Nicole (Chilean singer) (born 1977) * Nicole (German singer) (born 1964), winner of the 1982 Eurovi ...

and Marie-Anne Le Pezennec, and broadcast for the first time between 13 June and 18 July 2005 on

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is pa ...

Synopsis

The story is set in Ty Kern, an island off the coast of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

(which is, in real life, Belle-Île-en-Mer). In Ty Kern, four families are connected by ancient rivalries and secrets: the Kersaints, the Le Bihans, the Pérecs, and the Kermeurs. Marie Kermeur, a young police lieutenant, returns to the island to marry her childhood love, Christian Bréhat. But on the day before their wedding, strange events begin to happen. The bloody corpse of a seagull is brought in by the tide, Marie is assaulted by strange nightmares during the night, her brother Gildas is found dead, and

menhir A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be fou ...

s near the town begin to ooze blood. Aided by an inspector from the mainland, Lucas Fersen, Marie decides to clarify these strange phenomena. It is now that a series of deaths begin.

Cast and characters

Family tree

Kermeur family

Proprietors of a hotel. * Marie, lieutenant of the

Gendarmerie Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (literally, ...

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus ** Brest Region ** Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest ** Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Bre ...

(

) * Millic, Marie's father (later known not to be so) (Jean-Louis Foulquier) * Jeanne, Marie's mother (later known not to be so) (Martine Sarcey) * Gildas, Marie's other brother (Luc Thuiller) * Loïc, Marie's brother (Manuel Gélin) * Nicolas, Loïc's son (Tom Hygreck)

Pérec family

* Yves,

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the ...

and

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

(Marc Rioufol) * Chantal, Yves' wife ( Catherine Wilkening) * Aude, daughter of Yves and Chantal (Lizzie Brocheré)

Kersaint family

* Arthus,

Châtelain Châtelain (from la, castellanus, derived from ''castellum''; pertaining to a castle, fortress. Middle English: ''castellan'' from Anglo-Norman: ''castellain'' and Old French: ''castelain'') was originally the French title for the keeper of a ...

(Georges Wilson) * Pierre-Marie ("PM"), Arthus' son (Hippolyte Girardot) * Erwan de Kersaint, Arthus' son and Marie's real father (both secrets later to be revealed) (

Yves Rénier Yves Rénier (29 September 1942 – 24 April 2021)
w ...

) * Armelle, Pierre-Marie's wife (Laure Killing) * Juliette, daughter of Pierre-Marie and Armelle (Emilie de Preissac)

Le Bihan family

Owners of a '' faïencerie'' (factory for fancy pottery) * Yvonne, head of the business (Nicole Croisille) * Pierric, Yvonne's mentally handicapped son (Chick Ortega) * Gwenaëlle (often shortened to Gwen), Yvonne's daughter (Micky Sébastian) * Philippe, Gwenaëlle's husband (Didier Bienaimé) * Ronan, son of Gwenaëlle and Philippe (Thomas de Sambi)

Other characters

* Christian Bréhat, Marie Kermeur's fiancé, a famous

Yacht racing Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys o ...

captain (

Xavier Deluc Xavier Deluc (born 18 March 1958) is a French actor, director and scriptwriter. He is most known for acting in TV series such as 'Marc Eliot' (a French police drama), Dolmen (Brittany based family drama) and 12 seasons of ' Research Unit' (anoth ...

) * Anne Bréhat, Christian's sister, owner of a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

at Ty Kern (Brigitte Froment) * Lucas Fersen, major in the Brest Gendarmerie (Bruno Madinier) * Patrick Ryan (false identity adopted by Erwan de Kersaint),

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

* Stéphane Morineau, head of

computer forensics Computer forensics (also known as computer forensic science) is a branch of digital forensic science pertaining to evidence found in computers and digital storage media. The goal of computer forensics is to examine digital media in a forensica ...

for the Brest Gendarmerie (Richard Valls)

Technical details

Directed by Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

: Didier Albert *

Screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, ...

: Marianne Le Pezennec and

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

: TF1 and Marathon Productions

Filming locations

Port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as ...

of Ty Kern: port of

Sauzon Sauzon (; br, Saozon) is a commune on the island of Belle Île in the Morbihan department of the region of Brittany in north-western France. Inhabitants of Sauzon are called ''Sauzonnais''. Geography Sauzon is one of the four communes of Belle ...

, Belle-Île-en-Mer. * ''Faïencerie Le Bihan'': the faïencerie HB-Henriot,

Quimper Quimper (, ; br, Kemper ; la, Civitas Aquilonia or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department. Geography T ...

. * The lighthouse: the lighthouse of the Kermorvan

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on al ...

, at

Le Conquet Le Conquet (; br, Konk-Leon) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. This is the westernmost town of mainland France. Only three insular towns— Ouessant, Île-Molène and Ile de Sein—are further west ...

. * ''Site de Guénoc'' (English: ''Guénoc place''—the bleeding menhirs): built with

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...

on a metallic structure on the Kermorvan peninsula, near the lighthouse at

. * ''Château des Kersaint'' (the castle of the Kersaint family): Château de Kerouartz, in

Lannilis Lannilis (; br, Lanniliz) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. Population Inhabitants of Lannilis are called in French ''Lannilisiens''. Breton language The municipality launched a linguistic plan c ...

. It is an early 17th-century

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

, where a woman was, in fact, murdered.

International broadcast

* Basque Country: ETB2, October 2006 — November 2006 *

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RTL TVI RTL-TVI is a private French-language Luxembourg based television station in Belgium owned by DPG Media and Groupe Rossel, it was originally owned by the RTL Group until 31 March 2022. Within the French-speaking area of Belgium, it is the most ...

, June 2005 – July 2005 *

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, November 2006 *

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RTL Klub RTL (formerly: RTL Klub) is a Hungarian free-to-air television channel owned by RTL Group. The channel began broadcasting three days after its main rival TV2, one of Hungary's first commercial TV channels. History Since its start, RTL Klub ...

, 2006 summer *

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, August 2006 – September 2006 *

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...

RTP1 RTP1 (''RTP um'') is a Portuguese free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP). It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mains ...

, August 2006 * Switzerland: TSR, June 2005 – July 2005 *

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

TVP 1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Program I Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Polish channel to be broadcast and remains one ...

, February 2006 *

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, May 2007 *

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

MTV3 MTV3 ( fi, MTV Kolme, sv, MTV Tre) is a Finnish commercial television station. It had the biggest audience share of all Finnish TV channels until Yle TV1 (from Yle) took the lead. The letters MTV stand for Mainos-TV (literally "Advertiseme ...

, June 2007 — August 2007 *

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, July 2007 — August 2007 *

, December 2007 *

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: TV Nova, January 2008 *

Catalunya Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the northe ...

, January 2008 *

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

: Misdaatnet (Dutch commercial crime TV network), May 2011 * United States: MHz WorldView, September 2013

Accolades

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=420388 2000s French drama television series Television shows set in France 2005 French television series debuts 2005 French television series endings TF1 original programming