THERE are some hits, some misses and some mixed series coming audiences’ way this spring and for the rest of the year. This listing is a distillation of the 48 series from 19 countries screened recently at the largest TV festival in the world, Series Mania, in Lille, France.

As Europe swings toward a wartime footing and braces for the inevitable cutting of social services, there is also a distinctly ideological character to the choices and content of the series screened.

Out for a larger degree than previously was criticism of the internal workings of European societies. In was labelling of their erstwhile enemies, foremost among them being Russia. The “evil nation to the east” showed up even in pitches for future series including one about the aftermath of the 1980 sinking of the cruise ship Estonia. The pitch proposed the dastardly villain as an elderly Russian woman who kills her neighbours to recover diamonds stored inside a Russian doll.