When Intervilles returned in 2004, under the auspices of France 2 and Mistral Productions, it still retained its ability to surprise the audience. Whether that surprise was a particularly welcome one is open to debate, for the big news was that despite featuring French teams, the productions would not be recorded in France. Mistral Productions elected to stage the series in the same location, Europa Park - a popular theme park located near Rust, Germany - which they had utilised for their Deutschland Champions series (another series based on Intervilles). This meant that with each subsequent phase of the series, Intervilles had moved further from its original idea of being broadcast from the two competing towns simultaneously.

The presentation team for the first France 2 series were almost completely new to Intervilles, only Robert Wurtz, arbitrator in 1998, returning from the previous version. Master of Ceremonies was 43-year old Franco-Egyptian television presenter, Nagui Fam (known in France simply as Nagui - pictured, left), whose involvement with Intervilles would later expand when Mistral Productions took Nagui's production house Air Productions on board as co-producers in 2005. Also on board were Juliette Arnaud and a troupe of pom-pom girls, the Simones, who also appeared in Intervilles 2005 under the name, Les Cortisannes.

Programmes in the 2004 series were criticised for being too formulaic and repetitive. Each week's edition was split into five sections: a swimming pool game, a game on a spinning platform, a question and answer session, a game with the vachettes and the Wall of Champions game. These games lead to three relay races, the winners of which would qualify for the next heat. Success in the five games meant the opposing team is handicapped in the relays.

The 2004 final was held in mid-August, in Europa Park once again. This saw all the victorious teams fight it out in the first half of the programme, with the best two teams taking on each other in the second and final part for the ultimate prize. The Wall of Champions game was the final decider, and it was Le Creusot, an industrial town in the Bougogne region of France, that ended up enjoying the victory.

When the show returned in 2005, Nagui remained as Master of Ceremonies, joined by Patrice Laffont and much sought after DJ, Philippe Corti, with Robert Wurtz and Olivier Alleman refereeing. The biggest news, however, is the return of Nathalie Simon, who had last appeared on Intervilles in 1997. The producers had clearly learned a few lessons from their first year, not least of which was that it was eminently sensible to stage Intervilles events on French territory! Consequently, the series reverted to the format adoped in the mid-Nineties TF1 years, with a 'home' town and an 'invited' one. This move certainly pleased the traditionalists and had a good effect on the crowds, who were more partisan than the (understandably) slightly disinterested mostly-German audiences for the 2004 shows. The 2005 Intervilles culminated in a final which was staged in Provence at an arena in Arles. This year, Saint-Quentin tasted victory and audience levels had been sufficient to guarantee another series.

The 2006 series of Intervilles was aired on France 3, which has been the series home ever since. The presenting pack was again shuffled for the new series and this time it was Nagui's turn to move on as he was otherwise engaged with his new daily game show, Tout le Monde Veut Prendre sa Place. The case of the other significant non-returnee, Patrice Laffont, was rather less positive. Laffont reportedly had no desire to leave Intervilles, but the producers decided that at sixty-five, he was too old for the programme and didn't suit their aims for it to appeal to a predominantly youthful demographic. Laffont was understandably affronted, and commented that the affair left him with a bitter taste. The producers struggled to replace the pair, however, being turned down by at least two of the potential presenters they approached - Patrick Sébastien and Anthony Kavanagh - before appointing Julien Lepers and the comedian, Tex to the series, along with Vanessa Dolman who would host the Fil Rouge. Nathalie Simon and Robert Wurtz were retained from the 2005 team. This new Intervilles line-up of Corti, Dolmen, Lepers, Simon, Tex and Wurtz proved popular and remained for the 2007 series.

The new series commenced in Touquet, a seaside town in Northern France, which played host to Saint-Quentin, and ended up in Nîmes for the final (pictured, left), where the Mont-de-Marsan team repeated their success of 1998 to become the 2006 Champions. France 3 were delighted with their audience figures, which, while modest and well below those gained in the Nineties on TF1, were significantly better than the average ratings for their channel.

In association with Mistral Productions, France 3 planned a Winter competition for 2006, athough sadly this came to nothing due to pressures of time and finances. The 2007 series, not to mention a children's version called Intervilles Juniors, were on the horizon, however.

On the face of it, Intervilles shows no signs of going away and every sign of continuing. The 2007 series has been another success for France 3, and Guy Lux's original series has survived long after its high-profile equivalents in other countries have fallen by the wayside. Indeed, it has even outlived the great man himself - Lux sadly died in 2003, a year before he would have seen France 2 revive his creation. It is a glowing testament to his imagination, vision and creativity that Intervilles not only continues, but thrives in the New Millennium.

by Alan Hayes
Adapted from Wikipedia entry