From the return of the Bouleys and the Lepics in lunar episodes of “Fais pas çi, fait pas ça” to the chilling and perverse “Mon petit reinne”, including the little-known “Joan”… Our selection of miniseries to devour in less than six o’clock.
By Macha Dussart with the serial service
Published on January 10, 2025 at 5:41 p.m.
VDo you know this feeling? A series totally captivates you, you devour all the episodes, and suddenly… frustration, loneliness, lack. An endless wait of one or even two years before the next season… Telerama thinks of you and offers a new selection that allows you to watch a miniseries in less than six hours. This holiday season, you can explore an entire world in just a few episodes. Thriller, romcom, gore, black comedy… there is something for all tastes, all schedules and on all platforms, whether free or paid.
AppleTV +
Feminist remake: “Presumed innocent”
The erotic thriller from the 1980s, directed by Alan J. Pakula, is reborn with this series from David E. Kelley, with Jake Gyllenhaal and Renate Reinsve. Devoid of the sexism of the time, the story seduces today with its fascinating ambiguity.
8 x 45 mn
Read our review
“Presumed Innocent” on Apple TV+, a disturbingly feminist serial remake
Prime Video
Complex heroine: “Joan”
A young mother without resources embarks on a career as a jewel thief. A high-quality miniseries, inspired by the memoirs of Joan Hannington, and served by a top-flight Sophie Turner.
4 x 45 mn
Read our review
“Joan”, the miniseries that transforms a diamond thief into a political heroine
Winslet-style autocracy: “The Regime”
The authoritarian leader of a fictional Central European country falls in love with her bodyguard. And precipitates the collapse of the country… An ambiguous series, between laughter and unease, which is diluted a little over the length but is worth a look for the imperial Kate Winslet.
4 x 50 mn
Read our review
“The Regime”: Kate Winslet freewheeling in a disconcerting political satire
“Here the voice…”: “Cult”
Loana in the swimming pool, the squabble between M6 and TF1… Loft Story told with a bang. Just like the glorified rise of Alexia Laroche-Joubert, the first to introduce reality TV in France, who also happens to be… the producer of the series.
6 x 45 mn
Read our review
“Worship”
Arte.tv
Trash TV vs zombie : “Dead Set”
When the production company behind Big brother prides itself on exploiting the cynical mechanisms of reality TV in a horrific fiction, this results in this very dark, delightful and twisted series. Both a distressing thriller and a comedy, a massacre game created in 2008 by Charlton Brooker, the future creator of Black Mirror.
45 min + 5 x 30 mn
Read our review
“Dead Set”, the satirical miniseries that destroys trash TV
Love, love, love: “Lonely loves” (also available on France tv Slash)
The series continues to explore the different ways of being a couple, of loving each other… and of separating. After a sensitive first season around Maud and Simon and their epistolary love, here is the story of Maëlle and Saïd, for the reconquest of a lost love. Always fair, a miniseries freely inspired by Morgane Ortin’s eponymous Instagram account.
Maud and Simon23 x 3 mn
Maëlle and Saïd8 x 30 mn
Read our review
“Lonely Loves”, season 1: an epistolary romance 2.0
Read our review
“Lonely Loves”, season 2: some true, moving… essential words of love
False pretenses: “The world does not exist”
A journalist leads a fierce investigation in his hometown into a news item that affects him closely. With this thriller, a successful adaptation of the eponymous book by Fabrice Humbert, Erwan Le Duc renews the codes of the genre, with Niels Schneider on the verge of implosion.
4 x 50 mn
Read our review
“The world does not exist”, miniseries on Arte.tv: a disturbing and atypical thriller
Nickel-plated feet: “Headhunters”
Roger Brown is a headhunter for large companies. But he is also a liar and manipulator, whose plans often end up failing. Adapted from the novel by famous Norwegian author Jo Nesbø, a delicious black comedy with cruel humor.
6 x 45 mn
Read our review
“Headhunters”, Norwegian miniseries on Arte.tv: a delightful satire of the world of work
France.tv
Intergalactic surprise: “Don’t do this, don’t do that: we’re going to walk on the Moon”
It’s not in great shape for our two favorite families… But propelled to the Moon thanks to a competition, the Bouleys and Lepic take us far, far away, on adventures that are always just as pleasant.
Lost souls: “Our lives up in the air”
Two teenagers who want to end things meet on a roof and make a pact. Margaux Bonhomme brilliantly adapts Manon Fargetton’s novel through this touching and very modern miniseries.
5 x 25 mn
Read our review
“Our lives in the air”, on France.tv Slash: the fatal night of two suicidal teenagers
Netflix
Furious Vendetta: “Relentless”
A collision in the car, and two lives going into a tailspin. Existential and cartoonish, this series irrigated with anger hits the question of free will and dares a confusing emotion.
10 x 30 mn
Read the review
“Acharnés”, on Netflix: a furious and vibrant vendetta that holds up well
The space of the fantastic: “The Signal”
Beneath the fantastic suspense, this German miniseries hides the touching portrait of a father and his daughter confronted with the disappearance of the astronaut mother. An unpretentious success which shines above all by its restraint.
4 x 60 mn
Read our review
The Signal
Chilling: “My little reindeer”
Adapted into a series, the true story of the harassment of Richard Gadd (Scottish comedian and screenwriter (Sex Education, Outlander) which plays its own role here. A traumatic episode which shook his twenties, which results in a fascinating thriller, sticky and complex.
7 x 45 mn
Read our review
“My Little Reindeer”, the series that haunts you for a long time
Black Lives Matter: “In their eyes”
Ava DuVernay (Selma) returns to a news item from the 1980s to denounce the injustices suffered by African-Americans. By pressing heavily on emotion, it sometimes lacks subtlety, but its stunning casting touches us right in the heart.
4 x 70 mn
Read our review
“In their eyes”, a miniseries that fights through emotions against racial inequalities
Disney+
Web of illusions: “Children are kings”
Freely adapted from a novel by Delphine de Vigan, this miniseries highlights the dangers of exposing minors on the networks. A salutary reflection, with an astonishing cast, on a social fact that is still too underestimated.
6 x 30 mn
Read our review
“Children are kings”, on Disney +: when the paradise of childhood drowns in the hell of social networks
Rocky in Mexico: “La maquinà”
Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, best friends in life, produce and star in this honest Mexican miniseries about a boxer on the ropes facing the drama of his declining notoriety.
6 x 45 mn
Read our review
“La Máquina”, miniseries on Disney +: a former boxing star at the heart of a dark scheme
M6+
Every 7 minutes: “Three Girls”
Inspired by a true story in the United Kingdom, this miniseries plunges us, with heartbreaking realism, into the horror of large-scale sex trafficking, while not avoiding any disturbing aspect, such as the terrible neglect of social services. and the police. Powerful and necessary.
3 x 50 mn
Read our review
“Three Girls”: a series revealing “the intolerable contempt for the poorest classes”
TF1+
BBC phenomenal series: “Nightsleeper”
Embarked aboard a night train hijacked by a hacker, this British series proves frantic and entertaining… If not entirely credible. We enjoy the tension, and the jokes about the privatization of rail in the United Kingdom.
6 x 60 mn
Read our review
“Nightsleeper”: the phenomenal BBC miniseries
The Bataclan myth: “A devoted friend”
Adapted from the investigative book on a false victim of the 2015 attacks, this miniseries aims to “understand without excusing” this all-consuming deception. Laure Calamy excels in her feverish acting.
4 x 52 mn
Read our review
“A devoted friend”: Laure Calamy impresses in this adaptation of “La Mythomane du Bataclan”
MyCanal
Série militante : “This Is Going to Hurt”
Transforming a logbook into a series is no small ambition. The British Adam Kay does brilliantly in this medical drama with corrosive humor where humanity is everywhere. Delivering a very realistic diagnosis of the state of the National Health Service (NHS), the United Kingdom’s public health system.
7 x 45 min
Read our review
“This is Going to Hurt”, season 1: the series which pays a brilliant tribute to the British health service
And for even more ideas for series available on Netflix, Arte.tv, MyCanal, etc., lasting six hours or more, find all our thematic selections and lists on our platform guide.
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