After the Christmas TV movies, it’s time for the TV movie celebrating the arrival of the new year. TF1 will thus offer a television film in two parts, broadcast on the channel this December 30, 2024 at 9:10 p.m. and entitled Panic at 31.
The program features Arnaud Ducret in the role of a company owner, Arnaud, who must ensure a successful New Year’s Eve party on the 31st or risk going out of business. Only problem: his extravagant team risks making things slightly complicated for him. The TV film is more or less reminiscent of the cinema film The meaning of the celebration (2017), which showed the daily life of a disappointed wedding organizer (Jean-Pierre Bacri) facing his untenable team.
Between misunderstandings, gags and one-upmanship, Panic at 31 plays with the classic codes of the genre while using the desperate attempt card. Arnaud has the right to one last chance, and will have to give everything. By chaining together sketches and adventures – absent chef, decoration problem, power outage, impromptu arrival of Arnaud’s parents –, Panic at 31 unfolds its theme without pause and involves several television stars and film actors.
A host of guest stars
Besides Arnaud Ducret and Tom Villa (who plays Arnaud’s collaborator), Panic at 31 brings together prestigious guests. Isabelle Nanty plays the recalcitrant banker, Michèle Bernier and Lionnel Astier play Arnaud’s parents, while Pierre-François Martin-Laval slips into the skin of an energetic DJ.
But that’s not all! Dozens of star actors, actresses and presenters from TF1 are present, and it is notably possible to cite Pierre Arditi, François Berléand, Maxime Gasteuil, Les Bodin’s, Cartman, Chicandier, François-Xavier Demaison, Lola Dubini, Corinne Masiero, Christophe Willem or even the essential Nikos Aliagas!
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Pour Program TV, Panic at 31 is mainly for its distribution, although the very principle of the sketch TV movie makes the whole thing uneven, with successful moments and others less so. Even before its broadcast, Arnaud Ducret and Tom Villa would in any case like to set the table again and continue the adventures of this nightclub in other special programs on TF1. Another TV movie in 2025?
