"OPJ" this Tuesday evening on France 3: elementary my dear Watson

Confinement has changed the destiny of many television projects. Validated by Franck Gastambide, The Last Dance around Michael Jordan on Netflix, Tandem with Astrid Veillon, some series have surfed on this unexpected event to bring crowds together. At the time, France Télévisions launched a new daily series with 26-minute episodes, OPJ ( for Judicial Police Officer ) , around a police brigade installed in New Caledonia. It is fresh, new, rhythmic and the quartet of actors is quickly appreciated by the general public. There is the heroine Clarissa Hoarau played by Yaëlle Trulès and her three teammates: Nathan Dellemme (Lieutenant Jackson Bellerose), Marielle Karabeu (Brigadier Kelly Kwaté) and Antoine Stip in the role of Captain Gaspard Watson.

The health crisis hit a year after filming the first season, which consisted of 50 26-minute episodes. It was spring 2020, and the planet was at a standstill, so curious viewers flocked to these images of the tropics and criminal investigations. It was an immediate success, so much so that a sequel was immediately ordered. But New Caledonia was undergoing a drastic quarantine, and filming a second season there became unlikely. Until the ideal solution: relocating to the island of Réunion. "It was a natural progression," recalls Antoine Stip, who has since decided to live on the island. "The lockdown gave the first season a real success and we changed gears. It's a unique case in the history of series to do a 26-minute daily show and then break it down into 52-minute evenings. The audiences followed and we established ourselves in people's hearts. You can also see it in the presence of the guests: Olivier Marchal, Lola Dewaere and this season we have Bruno Solo and Sara Mortensen." Stip is the oldest of the group. A man who began his career in the 90s before going on to various projects (The Man in the Iron Mask, Jean-Philippe, The Roundup, Cut!) and who found himself, in 2019, in the shoes of a cop in flowered shirts on the other side of the world.

The uncle of the family

"When you have a recurring role on a hit series, you grow with your character. Gaspard Watson is an endearing man, he's the uncle, the family friend," explains Antoine Stip. "He's kind, clumsy, touching. I like his evolution, a lot of things happened to him, we discussed his alcoholism, his brother came back into his life, he became a commissioner even though the suit was too big for him, and now he's starting this sixth season in a coma after being shot in the season five finale." On screen, the four main actors get along wonderfully. "We meet up every year for filming in Reunion Island, there's a really strong friendship between us, we were able to add a bit more humor to the series thanks to that. There's the police investigation aspect and, alongside that, the private stories of the four characters," continues Stip.

Floral ties

The strength of the OPJ project is its local roots. With many Reunion Island actors and a local technical team, the island is perfectly represented on screen. "The audience success is everywhere, in mainland France, on the island of Reunion where they are very proud of the series, but also abroad. This brings tourism because the series does not lie," continues Stip. While the seventh season is currently being filmed, Stip is multiplying projects on his adopted island. "I just finished En Boucle, the series by Sébastien Follin, I acted in ONG, in the film Vade Retro by Antonin Peretjatko, there are more and more projects on Reunion Island," he concludes. Hoping for an eighth season of OPJ since the actor is very attached to his character: "He looks like me, I tend to believe that I am nice in real life and I have a lot of empathy for him, even when he becomes a commissioner and he shows off a bit because he abandons his flowery shirts for ties. But flowery ties (laughs)" .

OPJ, this Tuesday at 9:10 p.m., on France 3.