Television series
A Year in Provence
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
- Slow-burning
A gentle BBC adaptation of Peter Mayle's memoir, following a couple who abandon their London lives for a crumbling Provençal farmhouse. It's simultaneously aspirational and comic—romance collides with burst pipes, local eccentrics, and the messy reality of reinvention. For anyone who's fantasised about uprooting themselves, and for those who enjoy watching other people's chaos from a safe distance.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you want the pleasure of watching someone slowly lose their city brain to sun, lunch and stubborn old stone walls, with the gentle mockery of a couple who know they're being ridiculous.
Skip it if you need a plot pulling you forward, since this drifts from one meal and one fixer-upper crisis to the next and rarely hurries anywhere.
What it asks of you: Half-hour episodes, twelve of them, so it works as an easy evening habit rather than a binge; the pace is unhurried and the mood sunny, with little urgency.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Durrells2016
A family uproots to a Greek island to start afresh—same template of displacement, wonder, and learning to live differently. Lush, funny, touching, with the same generous spirit toward both the family and the locals they encounter.
But It's considerably more sentimental. The dramatic stakes are higher and occasionally the warmth tips into predictability.
Broadchurch2013
John Thaw in a darker British drama set in a small community. You get to see him play against type in something far grimmer, which is worth experiencing if you only know him from gentler work.
But This is the complete tonal opposite: bleak, violent, suspicious. You're not watching for charm or escapism, you're watching for slow-burn dread.
Toddlers & Tiaras2009
A documentary series that similarly mines comedy from watching people pursue their elaborate fantasies. American child pageants offer the same bewildered-observer perspective Mayle brings to French restoration.
But The subject matter is uncomfortable in ways that feel genuinely morally fraught. It's funny in a more acidic, critical way than *A Year in Provence*.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from A Year in Provence
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Discomfort of Evening
Both excavate the gap between the pastoral fantasy and lived reality. Mayle finds that gap comic; this finds it tragic. Same fundamental honesty about what the countryside actually is.
A Dutch film about a family's life in the countryside—visually sumptuous, funny, sad, and visceral in ways mainstream TV wouldn't dare. It captures the messy truth beneath pastoral fantasy: that beautiful places contain real suffering.
But It's deliberately uncomfortable and formally challenging. There's graphic content and tonal whiplash. It's not a comfort watch, even though it shares *Provence*'s setting.
More like this (4)
A Good Year2006
Russell Crowe as an investment banker who inherits a vineyard in Provence and learns to slow down. It's essentially the fantasy *A Year in Provence* is playing with, executed with Hollywood romance and gorgeous cinematography.
But It's far more polished and less comic than the TV series. The wish-fulfilment is almost unironic, which some find cloying.
Under the Tuscan Sun2003
Frances Mayes buys a villa in Italy and restores it. Same bittersweet comedy of displacement, renovation disasters, and falling in love with a place. Genuinely warm without being saccharine.
But The emotional stakes veer toward the romantic rather than observational. If you want comedy about real-life mishaps, this gets a bit too into feelings.
The Remains of the Day1993
John Thaw in a different kind of British period piece from the same year: introspective, beautifully shot, about English characters grappling with memory and regret. Proof of his range and depth.
But It's austere and melancholic where *Provence* is playful. Watching Thaw here won't help if you're after more of that warmth and comedy.
'Allo 'Allo!1982
British comedy set in occupied France, deeply fond of French culture and local characters despite the absurdity. It shares *Provence*'s affection for the French and its comedic approach to British-French encounters.
But It's broader, sillier, and ultimately more of a sitcom. If you want observational humour grounded in real life, this is pure farce.
People
Cast
Recommended by
The Durrells, Around the World in 80 Gardens, Merry Berry Love, A Place in France...