2013 was the year when the adage "better late than never" could quite justify be applied to France Télévisions and their belated marking of the fiftieth anniversary of Intervilles! Fans of the series were treated not to a full, revived series, but a one-off special in which the protagonist towns of the first Intervilles Final in 1962 - Dax and Saint-Amand-les-Eaux - were brought together for a celebratory head-to-head that was broadcast on Saturday 29th June 2013. Eagle-eyed readers will spot that this date was a mere 20 days ahead of the fifty-first anniversary of the first Intervilles contest, broadcast on 19th July 1962. Better late than never, for sure!

The programme comprised five of the best games from Intervilles' long history and also featured archive excerpts from historic broadcasts as well as a selection of bloopers. As a concession to modern developments in television and multimedia, Mistral Productions launched Vachette TV, an internet-based application that allowed viewers to influence the progress of the live event on their computer, tablet or mobile phone. They could also play a simple, fun Intervilles video game on their devices.

France 2 spokesperson Caroline Larriau revealed to AFP that the channel did not intend this to be the beginning of a sustained return for Intervilles: "It's a one-shot, an exceptional show: we won't do any more."

by Alan Hayes

JSFnetGB Series Guide pages researched by
Neil Storer and Alan Hayes
with Ischa Bijl, Julien Dessy, Sébastien Dias, David Hamilton, Denis Kirsanov, Paul Leaver, Philippe Minet,
Christos Moustakas, David Laich Ruiz, Marko Voštan and JSFnet Websites