‘This is Not a Murder Mystery’ A Whodunit Featuring Dali and Magritte

It takes a very special kind of creative mind to bridge surrealist art and whodunit TV productions. But it’s also fitting that “This is Not a Murder Mystery,”, a surprising crime drama set in the flamboyant 1930s following a group of young Surrealist artists, including Dali and Magritte, was born in the surrealist minds of Belgians.

Based on an original idea by Matthias Lebeer & Christophe Dirickx, directed by “The Serpent” helmer Hans Herbots and written by Christophe Dirickx & Paul Baeten, the six-part 54-minutes episode series is produced by Panenka, which got very early and continuous support from Belgian public broadcaster VRT, before becoming an ambitious European TV series. 

As Cannesseries kicks off its 9th season already, Variety spoke with Panenka producer Kristoffel Mertens and Elly Vervloet, international drama expert at VRT and Chair of New8 about how one turns a surrealist idea into a compelling drama-meets-art uniquely European series. 

“It started as the typical cliché idea that goes around in production companies,” recalls Mertens. “Everyone is very enthusiastic about it, but at the same time we would never be able to make it. Yet for this one, it remained with us and we kept going back to it, so in the end, we thought we could try to at least get it into development. And it turns out that “This is Not a Murder Mystery’ became one of the biggest shows ever made in Flanders.”

For the seasoned editor and VRT Drama expert, the idea was equally baffling. But Elly Vervloet and her team believed very early in this surrealist pitch as well, and boarded the project in the development phase. “It’s definitely the biggest series we have ever done”, emphasized Vervloet. “We usually commission Flemish series for our local audience, creating a mix of domestic series and high-end TV shows as well. But at that level, it becomes a matter of dreaming big, being bold, and daring to make this choice as a public broadcaster to bring this English-spoken series to our audience and beyond.” 

After securing development funding from Flanders Audiovisual Fund, things unfolded quite quickly for the Panenka-VRT duo. Shot between Belgium and Ireland, “This is Not a Murder Mystery” was eventually crafted by Panenka, in co-production with VRT, RTL Belgium, Proximus, the New8 broadcaster alliance (DR, NRK, NPO, RUV, SVT, YLE, ZDF, VRT) and Irish production Deadpan Pictures, in association with French powerhouse Studiocanal. This scheme unlocked many European funding opportunities, and brought no less than 10 broadcasters on board. 

“We were very lucky to have VRT on board as a commissioning broadcaster”, added Mertens. “Many meetings were conducted jointly, and Elly’s enthusiasm resonated with many international partners. The project made its first international appearance at the EFM co-production market, and we heard afterwards that it had gotten the biggest amount of meeting requests there. So we knew there was potential.” 

Berlin is also where the team met Studiocanal, a major partner still handling international sales for the series today, and received many marks of interest from European broadcasters. As VRT was in the process of co-founding the New8 alliance, Vervloet submitted the project to her fellow broadcasters, who reacted enthusiastically to this proposal. “I thought it was a perfect match. The series is directly tied to our European cultural heritage, it’s entertaining, and it has the power to address younger and older audiences alike.”

Beyond the six episodes, VRT and Panenka produced a companion series of six shorts episodes connecting fiction with reality. “This is Not a Fiction” dives deeper into archives, along with conversations with the cast, to present the real artists along with the makings of the TV show. “With this great content, and so many partners backing the project, it created a flywheel effect that helped us secure Creative Europe, Eurimages and our other financing partners”, added Vervloet.

Rather than seeing Flanders’ small territory as a drawback, Mertens underlined that even within Belgium, “This is Not a Murder Mystery” had three broadcasters on board. “It’s a great base, and it gives you the power to go outside of Belgium. We gained so much international experience on this project, and it was a great opportunity to work together so closely with VRT. We would definitely be open for other collaborations of this kind.”

Aired already on primetime VRT and at the same time on VRT MAX, the broadcaster’s online platform, the series was well-received by the audience and gathered both news attention and a great word-of-mouth, with good completion rates and high talk value. “It all came together very nicely”, added Vervloet, citing also the partnership crafted by VRT with the Antwerp Fine Arts Museum, and their René Magritte’s exhibition. “Bringing art to a broad audience through drama was a very big win for us. To me, it definitely shows the relevancy of such a series, and the intelligence of the creative teams behind this project.”

The French premiere at Canneseries is scheduled for April 26, followed by a conversation with the creative team and cast. “This Is Not a Murder Mystery” premieres Wednesday, April 29 on U&Drama, with all episodes available as a box set on U from launch.with France- Other New8 territories sare cheduled for the following months. 

Per Benjamin Gaessler, international publicity manager – TV Series at Studiocanal, the series has already been sold in almost 20 territories (including the New8 territories). “There are also a raft of new sales currently in the final stages, which Studiocanal hopes to confirm very soon,” added Gaessler, who shares the teams’ enthusiasm in this one-of-a-kind series.

“This is Not a Murder Mystery” is a Panenka production, in co-production with VRT, RTL Belgium, Proximus, the New8 broadcaster alliance (VRT, DR, NRK, NPO, RUV, SVT, YLE, ZDF) and Deadpan Pictures, with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA, the Pilot Programme for Series Co-Productions, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Screen Flanders, Screen Ireland, Screen Brussels and the Belgian Tax Shelter.