Summer ’36, a French historical mini-series, premieres on TF1 on Monday, May 18, 2026. Created by Marie Deshaires, Catherine Touzet and Iris Bucher, the series brings together Julie de Bona, Sofia Essaïdi and Nolwenn Leroy in a storyline set in Nice, at a moment when the first paid holidays are upending life on the Côte d’Azur.
The Summer of ’36
Series | 2026
Airing on TF1: from Monday, May 18, 2026
Drama, Historical | 1 season, 6 episodes of 52 minutes
Created by Marie Deshaires, Catherine Touzet, Iris Bucher
Starring Julie de Bona, Sofia Essaïdi, Nolwenn Leroy
Nationality: France
Summer 1936, in Nice. The bourgeoisie used to refined stays on the French Riviera watch as new holidaymakers arrive—workers and families taking their first paid breaks. In this uneasy cohabitation between two worlds that eye each other without understanding, four women from different walks of life become entwined in a murder at the chic Riviera hotel.
The series anchors its story in a pivotal moment of French social history: the introduction of the first paid holidays. This mass shift toward vacation spots, especially the coast, becomes a battleground where class divides, bourgeois routines, and rising popular aspirations collide. L’Été 36 uses this backdrop as the fuel for drama, weaving together female destinies, family tensions, and a police investigation.
With this fiction, Iris Bucher continues a historical anthology produced by Quad Drama for TF1, following Le Bazar de la Charité and Les Combattantes. The through line remains the spotlight on heroines facing sweeping historical upheavals, in narratives where the intimate is woven into the fabric of collective events.
Summer of ’36 adds a whiff of murder mystery to this sprawling narrative. The screenwriters insist the investigation rests on observation, deduction, and clues, in a vein reminiscent of Agatha Christie. The absence of modern tools gives the crime plot a more classic engine, powered by the relationships between the characters and the secrets swirling around the Riviera Hotel.
The series targets viewers drawn to historical series, woman-led dramas, and period investigations. With its six episodes, L’Été 36 pairs the sun-soaked backdrop of the Côte d’Azur with the social upheaval of the Popular Front and a criminal case that could upend the family, love, and professional lives of its characters.
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