Paris (AFP)

Surf, sun, fine sand, sex and light intrigue: M6 launches Friday "Reef Break", the first American series ordered by the French chain, with the headliner Poppy Montgomery, star of "FBI: Worn missing "and" Unforgettable ".

"Reef break", or "fond de récif" in French, is a term used in particular by surfers to describe a rocky seabed, and therefore an area where it is particularly dangerous to venture out.

The action of the series, the very first commissioned by M6 from a large American network (it was produced for the French channel by ABC Studios) takes place on a fictional American island in the Pacific.

Poppy Montgomery plays Cat Chambers, a big mouth surfer and non-conformist who had trouble with the law and now plays the investigators to redeem a pipe. His deduction skills, his resourcefulness and his relationships with police and thugs are of great help to local authorities in solving crimes.

Cat is in particular the accomplice, but also the lover, of a dashing and seductive policeman, Wyatt Cole (played by another Australian actor, Desmond Chiam).

An exotic cocktail, formatted to have a good time with viewers, with intrigues full of villains with patibular mines, gold bars and hidden treasures, speedboat races and helicopters, and heroes who never do not take the lead. With a few more sex scenes to spice it up ...

"Usually I play the police, it was nice for me to play a criminal, a rebel character ...", tells AFP Poppy Montgormery. And even if Cat ranks from the first episode on the bright side of the law, "she plays spoilsport until the end of the series," she says.

- "Light, frivolous" -

"And there are lots of surf, sex and sun, the three S", underlines the Australian-American actress, who also contributed to the conception of the series and is its executive producer, a new role in his career.

"I played all day, then I worked on the script with the writers, I learned a lot," she says.

It was she who wanted to inject a relaxed atmosphere reminiscent of the series of yesteryear, far from the dark plots and tortured characters which abound today in police fiction.

"I wanted to do something light, frivolous, with joie de vivre, a form of homage to the series of the 80s, like + Magnum +, + For the love of risk +, or + The cruise has fun + .. . Series where you let yourself be carried away by stories full of action and romance, "she summarizes.

Poppy Montgomery was fortunate to be able to shoot the series in Australia, with paradisiacal beaches and "spots" suitable for surf scenes, filmed with stuntmen and professional surfers, who left the actress admiring. "I'm a poor surfer, but in my next life, I would like to be a pro surfer!", She says.

The series has already appeared in the United States on CBS, which did not want to give it a sequel. But, since it was M6 who ordered "Reef Break", the adventure could continue if the French public is there. "I would love to do a second season," says Poppy Montgomery, with ideas for scenarios full of head.

© 2020 AFP