HPI final season: the end of a French TV phenomenon

This September, TF1 broadcasts the last episodes of the final season of HPI, bringing to an end one of the most popular French shows of the last four decades.

HPI (short for Haut Potentiel Intellectuel) tells the story of Morgane Alvaro, a 38-year-old janitor and a mother of three children with an IQ of 160 whose intellectual capacities are noticed by Adam Karadec, a French policeman, who offers her a job as a crime consultant.

The show features eight episodes per season, with the duo solving a new crime case each time, and personal and romantic adventures unfolding throughout.

The audience for the final season was the lowest of the five, averaging six million viewers per episode, but overall it garnered great viewership for a French television show.

“I think it is a great thing to leave before viewers get bored. Morgane Alvaro should not be portrayed over 10 seasons,” actress Audrey Fleurot – who plays her – told Quotidien on September 2024 after the fourth season had finished broadcasting.

Created in 2021, HPI has enjoyed once-in-a-decade viewership figures in France.

It ranks in the top five of France’s most-viewed TV shows with Julie Lescaut (1995), Joséphine, ange gardien (1997-2025), Dolmen (2005) and Le Comte de Monte-Cristo (1998).

Four episodes of Season 1 were among the top 10 biggest TV audiences of 2021, all attracting more than 11.5 million viewers with episode four peaking at 12.4 million, breaking a 18-year long channel record held by Dolmen.

In 2022, three episodes of Season 2 ranked 8th, 9th and 10th – with audience figures above the 2022 FIFA World Cup’s games of Les Bleus. All eight episodes of Season 3 are in the top 20. The third season was nominated at the 2024’s International Emmy Awards in the Best Comedy Series category. It has been adapted abroad seven times, most recently by American channel ABC where Morgane Alvaro became Morgan Gillory, played by Kaitlin Olson.

It was sold to more than 105 countries with 280 million people having watched at least one episode.

Many critics have come up with reasons explaining HPI’s success, starting with actress Audrey Fleurot.

“Her character, a gifted mother who has not exploited the full potential of her abilities, easily wins the sympathy of viewers. Her life in shambles, dealing with three kids and unpaid bills, gets her closer to ordinary mortals,” wrote Le Monde.

Besides Ms Fleurot, many other aspects of the show have been pointed out.

“Part of the guilty pleasure lies in the romantic tension between Morgane and Adam Karadec. They are irresistibly attracted to each other but never jump the gun nor act or, if they do, they do it so wrong and regret it,” wrote Le Figaro.

“The comedy is set in Lille and its outskirts, an easily identifiable French territory, [...] produced and directed at such a demanding level that it prevents boredom, a trap TV competitors often fall into,” wrote Thomas Sotinel, another journalist at Le Monde, in a review of the show’s third season.

“The show perfectly blends the genres of comedy and drama, alternating between lighter and more sombre scenes,” wrote Samuel Delage, a novelist and TV film writer, in a blogpost.

Speaking on Quotidien, Ms Fleurot shared her feelings about producers calling quits on HPI.

“It is a calculated move to avoid our fans being disappointed. But it will be very difficult emotionally,” she added.

Reasons for ending the show could, however, lie somewhere else.

Pierre-Antoine Capton, director of production company Mediawan which produced HPI, told Le Parisien the company was in talks with TF1 about a “different extension” to the show.

Fans have already placed their bets on what that ‘different extension’ might be. Most point to a version focused on Adam Karadec, as HBO did with Breaking Bad when producers developed Better Call Saul.