In Acorn TV's new international romantic crime drama Cannes Confidential, Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica, Law & Order: UK) plays a character who's "evasive" but has the gift of gab. He is Harry King, an international conman who becomes the unlikely associate of no-nonsense local cop Camille Delmasse (Lucie Lucas) and her right-hand woman Léa Robert (Tamara Marthe).
Premiering with the first two episodes June 26, the six-part series is the first English-language procedural drama to be produced and set on France's beautiful Cote d’Azur since the 1970s. But, as Bamber tells us in this Q&A, Cannes Confidential shows a very different side to the city from the glitz and glamour of the annual film festival. He also discusses Harry's "bicker-banter" relationship with Camille and explains why the show is pure fun to watch.

Q: What attracted you to Cannes Confidential? 
A: The role — the chance to play someone who has a way with words [and] who swans around in different milieu within the city. That and the relationship between him and the young police officer, Camille, who is Cannes-born and bred and just takes an instant disliking to him. There's that kinetic energy [between them] that you get with a push-pull, attraction-repulsion vibe. When I first read the script, I very much saw the classic bicker-banter thing that we've all grown up with over the years. I suppose for my generation, it was probably [defined by] Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner in Romancing the Stone.
Q: Why does Camille take an instant disliking to Harry?
A: Well, on one level, they meet by her driving into a fire hydrant, and he's not at all ruffled or sympathetic particularly. But on a deeper level, there's a bit of class tension and internationalist tension [between them]. Harry's a foreigner who feels more at home in her city than arguably she does because of the way Cannes has changed. Plus, there's the fact that he is a suspect in the case [she's investigating] and he doesn't seem particularly worried by that. 
And you know, there's really a personal difference in their way of behaving. She's direct and he's evasive. She's all business whereas he's all humor and charm. She finds that combination infuriating. Gradually as the series goes on, their relationship evolves as well. You see more of who Harry might be and what his true needs and worries are. There's a darkness and a melancholy to him, which was very important for me to establish.
Q: Will Harry surprise us as the series progresses?
A: I hope so. You know, the show works on a couple of different levels. It's a very feel-good, escapist police procedural romantic comedy in the style of Moonlighting or The Persuaders. But there is also an overarching narrative that is all about the relationships between the characters and their codependence in terms of the main plot, which is Camille's quest to exonerate her corrupt father. He was the [local] police commissioner, but he's been incarcerated for some corruption in the past.
Harry, as she discovers very quickly, has a shady past of his own. He clearly reveals at the end of the first episode that he has a bit of access to the world that she's investigating. So essentially what we've got here is an odd couple – or an odd triangle, with Camille's colleague Léa – of people helping each other to investigate a crime of the week. Viewers will hopefully be drawn into their developing relationships with one another, too.

Q: Do you feel as though the show reveals a very different side of Cannes?
A: That's certainly part of the intention. We want to share all of Cannes – from the Croisette on the coast, which is very much on show – to the hinterlands where you see the people who work in the service industry, as well as the fishermen and the police, obviously. We had unique access because the city's mayor, David Lisnard, wants Cannes to be a production center as well as a shop window for the film and TV industry.
So, we were given the keys to the city and had access to locations that would be prohibitively expensive for any normal show of our budget. We had free reign of the famous Majestic Hotel for two weeks, but we also had access to a famous youth center, MGC, which is out in a more deprived area of Cannes and very much a beloved local treasure. So, you get a glimpse of what living in Cannes would be like not just for glamorous [visitors], but also for people that actually call it home and have done so for many generations.
Q: What do you hope people take away from the series?
A: A smile. You know, I just think it should be fun. It's a good old-fashioned crime drama with a bit of escapism thrown in and hopefully some laughs. It's meant to be something that you can unwind with after a day's work. Maybe you're not in the Côte d'Azur, but you fancy just immersing yourself in this world. 
Q: You could always enjoy it with a nice glass of French wine.
A: I would highly recommend that. And if you don't drink wine, then maybe some cheese or something else that gets you in the mood. Maybe put on your best pastel shades like Harry?

Cannes Confidential will premiere with the first two episodes on Monday, June 26 on Acorn TV, with two new episodes premiering weekly every Monday through July 10.