THE simultaneously genial and genial cultural attache at the French embassy, Alexandre Defay, slipped naturally into the role of host at the Alliance Francaise's Dublin headquarters last Wednesday evening. It's a part Monsieur Delay was born to play; and that was the bilingual consensus among the cast of young actors gathered in the same place to celebrate the completion of a new Hiberno French television series, Sara, which begins transmission on RTE tomorrow.
Among the other guests present at the reception was the Alliance's director, Jean Solito, who arrived here last March, and Kevin Linehan, head of young people's programmes at RTE. "It used to be called children's television until I introduced The End," explained Mr Linehan, who had just seen his wife Mary O'Sullivan off at Dublin airport; the Check Up reporter was off for a fortnight's work in Cambodia.
According to RTE's director of television programmes Liam Miller, the idea for Sara first emerged two years ago from that well known melting pot of inspiration - a bar in Cannes. When it came to filming, France once again provided assistance, with the series being set against the backdrop of the Camargue region.
As if to confirm the spirit of entente cordiale, the director/producer is a Scotsman, Robin Crichton, who turned up at Wednesday's party wearing a kilt in his family tartan. "It depends on the weather," responded Mr Crichton when asked how often he dressed in this fashion. Questioned about whether he would be returning to Dublin in a fortnight's time for the Scotland vs Ireland rugby match, his response was equally cautious.
