Episode list

What has happened to the orphans who have vanished from the streets of Paris? Where has the precious cloth sold at unbeatable prices appeared from? Vallombreuse and Diane de Crécy must be mixed up in the affair. Thanks to their mastery of disguise, and the wonderful inventions of LaFumée, Fracasse and his friends put an end to a clandestine sweatshop which exploit the wretched orphans for profit, saving them from drowning.

What is the fierce creature which haunts the streets of Paris, and hides out in the Dauphine Theatre ? It's a 'wolf-child', who was abused by unscrupulous fairground owners, and finally sold to Vallombreuse and Diane de Crécy for a planned garden party entertainment, which will end up in a sordid manhunt. Fortunately, Fracasse and his companions intervene. The night's entertainment finishes much more happily than planned for Damian, the wolf-child, and much less happily for the Duke's guests.

Who is Henri de Saint-Leu, a man brave enough to challenge Vallombreuse and wound him in a duel? He finds himself shut up in the Bastille for his pains. His sister, the charming Louise, asks Fracasse to save him. But you don't just walk out of the Bastille! The actors from the Dauphine Theatre prove otherwise, thanks to a help from Monfort - the only man to have escaped from the famous prison - and also to Lafumée's latest invention. All this is not without certain surprises which, perhaps, will teach Fracasse that appearances can be misleading...

Who are the mysterious 'Black Plumes' who are terrorizing Paris, once night has fallen? The Crowned Radish Inn succumbs to their threats. Thomas and Madame Jojo are scared into silence, and pay the 'protection money'. But Fracasse and his crew discover that - once again - Vallombreuse and his henchman Chevillard are behind the racket. With their skill in disguise, members of the troupe infiltrate the criminals and put a stop to the reign of the 'Black Plumes'.

Chiquita has had enough of being treated like a child! She hits the streets of Paris, and freedom! With Little Jack, she joins the 'Thieves Sanctuary' whose half mad 'King' - Melchior - puts her to the test. Caught up in a diabolic spiral, the young gypsy finds herself trapped, forced to betray Fracasse and disfigure the King of France! Although wounded, Fracasse just manages to get her out of Melchior's clutches before she goes beyond the pale.

A creature from Hell is setting fire to the streets of Paris. Rumour says it is the ghost of Hubert Dragonheart, a powerful magician, burnt at the stake a century before, who has returned to exact revenge. It takes enormous courage from Fracasse to face the flames, which remind him of the tragic death of his parents, and bring back his childhood nightmares. But he must face the Demon of Fire.

The Sultan of Turkey is on a visit to Paris. He is a big fan of theatre and insists on seeing a performance by the Dauphine Theatre. But not everybody approves of the peace treaty he's about to sign with the King of France. With the connivance of the Grand Vizier, Vallombreuse and Diane plan to assassinate him... on the stage of the theatre itself, using the arm of Isabelle herself, without her knowledge. This fiendish plot is foiled at the last moment by the whole troupe in a climax worthy of Grand Guignol.

One evening at the Inn of the Crowned Radish, LaFumée is eating with his old friend Theodore Mercuro, a fellow alchemist. Theodore boasts he has discovered the secret of the Philosophers' Stone... and these boasts reach the ears of Diane de Crécy, who immediately has him kidnapped. But the henchmen Weasel and Toadface get the wrong alchemist, and kidnap LaFumée instead! In the chaos, and after smoky experiments, more and more 'Mercuros' appear thanks to the acting talents of Sigognac, utterly bewildering the Countess of Crécy, under the suspicious but amused eye of Vallombreuse.

Fracasse attacks a coach, holds a bourgeois couple to ransom and seriously wounds the husband. There's a general consternation. The mob, ever ready to burn anyone who has offended, considers Fracasse to be a vulgar bandit. Even in the Dauphine Theatre, doubt assails the members of the troupe. Sigognac, cut to the quick, and too proud to give explanations, sets off to carry out justice himself. Chiquita discovers that Vallombreuse has hired a mercenary to impersonate Fracasse, in order to ruin the reputation of the Defender of Paris. Fracasse has to confront his double in a duel, to make sure truth and justice prevail.

Members of high society are being mysteriously assassinated. This doesn't bother Fracasse too much until one day, a creature with superhuman strength enters the theatre to carry off one of their guests. Now Fracasse intervenes. He uncovers a dark tale of revenge, after a perfidious treachery, years before on the battlefield of Brunevoy. The last victim is to be... Vallombreuse! Our hero is thus faced with a dilemma : should he protect his sworn enemy? The appearance of Isabelle gives him the answer, and enables him to bring succor to a tormented soul...

Everything's over between Diane de Crécy and Vallombreuse. The Countess is publicly humiliated during a performance at the Dauphine Theatre. Overruling the objections of the members, especially Isabelle, Sigognac decides to enroll Diane in the troupe. On stage, and off, the Baron de Sigognac, actor and secret Defender of Justice - and the Countess of Crécy, a fallen criminal, now without riches or friends, will begin a game of wary seduction. Is Diane sincere? Is Sigognac, Fracasse? Will they fall in love? Or is it all a plot?...

An actress is found unconscious, in a deep coma. She was playing the lead role in a mysterious play - 'The Black Rose' - whose author wishes to remain anonymous. Then another young actress, a friend of Sigognac and the other actors at the Dauphine Theatre, succumbs. Who is responsible? Is it Vallombreuse, whose taste for young, pretty actresses is well-known? Or could it be Henri de Villeneuve, the King's cousin, and an old friend of Isabelle, a patron of the Theatre whose behavior is sometimes quite odd? Or is it the unknown author of the play? Or the man dressed in black who is haunting the streets of Paris? Isabelle sets herself up as a victim, to lure the assailant into a trap that could cost her life.

The Viscount of Marolles is such a charming man! So refined, so elegant, so brilliant, that even Isabelle is charmed, aided, it's true, by another one of her quarrels with Sigognac. But behind his exquisite manners, Marolles is a devious soul ready to do anything in return for the riches promised by Diane de Crécy for his 'services'. The unfortunates who succumb to his charms end up in distant colonies where there is a shortage of women, and people are prepared to pay a high price! In disguise once again, Sigognac and LaFumée sow chaos in Diane's plans, aided and abetted this time by the unwitting Vallombreuse.

Commodius, a tough who hasn't too many scruples, meets up with an old colleague on the run from jail, who turns out to be none other than ... Cassepierre! The gentle giant has to flee the police but he's quickly caught and sentenced to the gallows. It's paramount that he is seen to pay for his crimes - all the mores as he's actually innocent, and the real villain behind it all is the omnipresent Vallombreuse! Commodius, being a decent soul, joins the troupe to get his pal out of a sticky situation. But it will take a failed escape attempt, a promise of marriage between Isabelle and Vallombreuse and a confession from the real guilty party to save Cassepierre.

Scarface, a swinish brute, exploits and abuses a band of street urchins. Chiquita, witnessing a sordid scene, interferes and accidentally harm a young child. Conflict is inevitable between the children, led by Pearl - a young girl about the same age as Chiquita, who she considers spoiled, and Scarface, who wants to get matters in hand again. The urchins organize their defense and are doing pretty well against the hooligans hired by their former master. But it's the appearance of Fracasse which finally tips the balance and saves them once and for all from the clutches of the tyrant.

Why are the bells of Paris falling off one by one? Fortunately, William de l'Aubier, a good man, as rich as he is generous, donates splendid new bells that he has made in his smithies. But who is this disinterested patron? Bartholomew, a blind man, trembles at the sound of his voice. According to him, William de l'Aubier is not what he seems. He's a monster obsessed with revenge, who will bring the capital to its knees with his bells from the forges of Hell itself! Sigognac will have to keep a very clear head to thwart this menace.

What is going on in the old quarries in the north-east of Paris? Théophrastus Renaudot - an early journalist - is leading the investigation... which leads to Diane de Crécy. And, as he also fancies himself as a theatre critic, he has to deal with Sigognac, who's fuming from a bad review in the broadsheet 'Gazette', the ancestor of our modern press. Fracasse and company have to save Theophrastus' neck, and put an end to the horrible so-called 'medical' experiments that are taking place in the underground labyrinths of the Buttes Chaumont.

Who could benefit from the silence of the noble Parisians who have all suddenly fallen prey to the same disease? And how can anyone get inside the condemned houses? Even Fracasse, who is unable to save the next victim, is at a loss. The answer is to be found near Vallombreuse, and more particularly, Diane, who has engaged the services of killers who are all the more efficient for being minuscule and unsuspected. This time, the troupe of the Dauphine Theatre have to confront an unknown, fast and untouchable enemy...

What is happening at the Charity Hospital? Is Friar Vincent the bloodthirsty monster that some people believe? Or is he an interloper who collects money for the poor, money that Vallombreuse would like to see in his personal coffers? Whatever the explanation, there's certainly something prowling through the underground rivers which honeycomb the old building's foundations. A thing with red eyes, whose fearsome teeth can rip a man to shreds. A revolutionary submarine invented by LaFumée, enables Fracasse and Chiquita to track down these creatures of the dark, and for once, it's not just Vallombreuse who's to blame...

Fracasse arrives too late to stop Vallombreuse's men from burning down the Marsante townhouse. The Duke and Duchess have been kidnapped, and their son has disappeared, as has the medallion which bears the family seal, the famous Ivory Unicorn. But Fracasse doesn't give up so easily, especially once he learns that his old enemy Vallombreuse is behind the crime. The young heir of Marsante survives the fire, along with the family seal. The lad thus becomes the center of a struggle between Vallombreuse's henchmen and the troupe, led by Fracasse.

The Parisian theaters are fighting tooth and nail for a new play by an unknown author called 'The Avenging Blade', which features a masked avenger not a million miles from Fracasse and a ridiculous Duke that no-one can avoid mistaking for Vallombreuse. In a rage, Vallombreuse captures the author and exhibits him in chains. He dares Fracasse to either try to set him free, or give himself up. Sigognac, smelling a trap, has to act. Finally, caught in his own game, Vallombreuse has to allow the play to go ahead, or the highly surprising identity of the real author will be revealed.

What is happening to people who are foolish enough to mock the Devil? They are disappearing one by one, leaving nothing behind but a bloody hand print. Is Satan himself stalking the back streets of the capital to exact punishment for those who doubt his existence? Cassepierre and Chiquita start to be convinced, especially since Ernesto Lazzi, the director of the Odeon Theatre, has gone into hiding with friends. Even Diane de Crécy, well-versed in the occult, is out of her depth. Vallombreuse is livid, but nothing can be done : the Devil continues to terrorize the capital. Only Chevillard seems to know something about the mystery, and brings a tragic-comic conclusion to this tale on the limits of the supernatural.

Charles de Batz, the young cousin of Sigognac, arrives in Paris straight from his native Gascony. Rash, turbulent, charming and an exceptional duelist, he's hardly had time to catch his breath before he's challenged by a fearsome killer in the pay of Vallombreuse and Diane. Against all expectations, the young man wins the fight! But he will still become a toy in Diane's hands. Despite warnings from his cousin and Isabelle, the young man doesn't want to listen, and it's only the direct intervention of Fracasse that saves the reckless youth and opens his eyes before he commits a real murder for Vallombreuse.

A burglary at Vallombreuse's house, brings a secret document into Sigognac's hands. Our hero thus learns that his sworn enemy was also behind the murder of his parents and the ruin of his family. As a righter of wrongs, he is tempted to revenge, but Justice and Revenge rarely sit well together. Vallombreuse also finally discovers the true identity of Fracasse. The Theatre is closed down, the players are scattered and imprisoned. Fracasse is sought after by every police force in the Kingdom, and has to struggle alone... he meets a tragic fate, and it's the end of the Defender of Paris.

Long believed dead in the flames of his château, Sigognac the elder comes back from nowhere. He's looking for the man responsible for his downfall, and visits his old friend... the Duke of Vallombreuse! He opens his heart and makes it known that he will soon discover who the traitor was who plotted against the King, and who accused Sigognac, sullying his name. In a panic, Vallombreuse tries to eliminate this witness to a compromising past. Has Diane betrayed him? Are the compromising documents he hid still safe? More and more worried, Vallombreuse walks straight into the trap!