Another drama about how women are great and men are rubbish: C4’s Philharmonia reviewed

On the face of it, a French-language drama about a Parisian symphony orchestra mightn’t sound like the most action-packed of TV watches. In fact, though, Philharmonia (Sundays) is pretty much Dallas with violins.

The first episode began with the eponymous orchestra blasting out a spot of what Shazam assured me was Dvorak, before its elderly conductor dropped his baton and collapsed to the floor, never to rise again. Cue a pair of Gallically elegant female lower legs making their way through the airport as one Hélène Barizet arrived from New York to take over the role.

Not that her appointment was universally welcomed. Several middle-aged male musicians shook their heads and made the kind of impeccably sexist remarks more usually associated with old-school British coppers of the 1970s. The orchestra’s director, Léopold Saint-Just, told colleagues that Hélène had been foisted on him by the culture ministry as a feminist gimmick, and gave it a week before the pressure got to her and she realised that conducting isn’t for girls.