When The Promise hit French screens in January 2021, over a third of the country’s viewing population tuned in. The first episode alone captured 7.5 million viewers – the biggest French television debut in six years. Now the six-part mystery, created by Spiral veterans Gaëlle Bellan and Anne Landois, is coming to thrill and chill SBS audiences. Does it deserve the hype?
The Promise takes place across two time periods, raising the curtain on Boxing Day, 1999. While a vicious storm ravages the countryside, 11-year-old Charlotte is kidnapped. A confession is quickly wrung out of teenage suspect Tony Andreï (Jules Houplain) but veteran detective Pierre Castaing (Olivier Marchal, Elite Squad) is convinced that local man Serge Fouquet (Guy Lecluyse) is the culprit.
With both the police and the community desperate for a quick resolution, Castaing is thrown off the force but vows to find the real villain no matter how long it takes. Nonetheless, he cautions his teenage daughter, Sarah, not to end up like him.
20 years later, it’s clear that she didn’t listen, as Captain Sarah Castaing (Sofia Essaïdi, Aïcha) is now a cop like her father and finds herself investigating a case with startling similarities to the kidnapping that obsessed him. With Castaing senior long in his grave, Sarah has a chance to redeem his reputation and put a real predator behind bars – but will her drive to do so upend her life like her father’s before her?
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