​​​​​​​Un Si Grand Soleil: a place, a memory, an encounter… Benjamin Bourgois shares his Montpellier favorites

All summer, we go to meet the actors from the France Télévision series Un Si Grand Soleil, filmed in Montpellier. Actor Benjamin Bourgois shares with us today his favorites about the region.

Their characters have become familiar to more than 3.5 million viewers. Find, every Friday in the summer, an interview with an actor or actress from the television series broadcast on France 2. Everyone confides their favorites in Montpellier, the city of filming. Benjamin Bourgois removes his lieutenant's uniform for an interview.

A place to have a drink ?

Go for a coffee at Circle Square, passage de l’horloge, chez Joy. Quite simply.

A corner of nature ?

The nature corner is the Mérique park, it's very pretty and worth a visit. And then, it's a real corner of nature in Montpellier, like they don't see anymore. I love it.

The must-see restaurant ?

My favorite canteen is Les Bistronômes, Place de l'Europe. It's always homemade, the owner is super nice. And yes, in terms of canteens, that's really it, for me it's my canteen.

A memorable encounter ?

The meetings that mattered to me here were more my colleagues. For me it wasn't the people from Montpellier; I met a lot of really nice people from Montpellier. But it was more the people who work with me, who are mostly from Montpellier. But it was more people from my team, it's the comico. My meetings were Yvon Bach, Moïse Santamaria, Constantin Balzan, Aïssam Medhem – who I kiss but who is no longer here – Malya Roman and so on … they were my colleagues. That's my encounters, you can't test that.

The summer hit?

He is rather the artist of the summer. Because the summer hit itself, I don’t have one. But it's an artist called Maro, who is a Portuguese singer, who does superb covers on Instagram. But above all who has albums of her own that I am discovering a little. It’s thanks to Billie Eilish who loved one of her songs, which gave her name on the Internet. I looked at what she was doing and this artist is superb. She has a magnificent voice and she is a superb artist, Portuguese singer called Maro.

A guilty pleasure?

Brillat-Savarin with truffles which is a creamy cheese with a little edge of truffle; This is a guilty pleasure. That and the cinnamon also sweet. I have plenty of other guilty pleasures. Stop, don't torture me, please.

A book for this summer?

It’s my bedside book, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read a word of it. But I will say Toole's conspiracy of fools. A must read! If you want to have a laugh… Read, The Conjuring of Fools. This is the book that I give to everyone.

An expression from the south?

It’s from the south, but it’s not just Montpellier. But it sucks, oh my God it sucks!