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Netflix’s recent efforts to revive the rom-com bleed into one of its latest TV offerings with The Hookup Plan. The messy city lives of Friends meet the contemporary feel of The Bold Type in this French-language series about a woman whose friends hire an escort to help her get over her ex. When Charlotte (Sabrina Ouazani) and Milou (Joséphine Drai) secretly choose escort Jules (Marc Ruchmann) as a rebound for their friend Elsa – a down-on-her-luck late-twenty-something played by Zita Hanrot – their intentions are good. But this is romantic-comedy-drama, where the course of true liaison never does run smooth.

Aside from the admittedly trashy title – The Hookup Plan has none of the multiple meanings conjured by the original French title Plan Coeur, but it is, at least, better than Netflix’s frankly criminal rendering of Spanish series La case de papel (‘the house of paper’) as Money Heist – it is a gorgeously put together serialised romantic comedy. Everyday scenes in this eight-episode run occur in locations that the finale of most multi-million-dollar films would kill for, from intimate Parisian restaurants and carousel-laden squares to grand theatres and breathtaking avenues. While well-lit and often cinematic, the show also makes room for endearing, quintessential rom-com moments such as  Elsa’s motif-making dinner sing-along to an obscure French tune. Enough of the wit and humour comes across through the subtitles to make you laugh, too.

The Hookup Plan boasts some fine performances (or at least, I think it does – I speak very little French and delight in assuming all line delivery was perfect). Tall, dark and as softly handsome as if he’s been carved out of the block of fudge of your dreams, Jules benefits from Ruchmann’s humanising touch. As bewildered expectant father Antoine, Syrus Shahidi also invokes a fairly realistic representation of the well-meaning but mediocre modern man. As Elsa, Hanrot mostly confines herself to undertones of the likes of the more out-there rom-com leads like Ugly Betty and Bridget Jones. Mostly.

The female friendships of The Hookup Plan are complex, but not in that handy small-screen way by which creators really mean ‘bitchy’ (spoiler: that’s not friendship). They are multifaceted: warm and supportive but imperfect; loving but imperilled. Crucially, you can actually see why these women would be friends. The core friendship group of men and women is plausible, too. Slapdash slacker Charlotte hops from job to job, trying to keep her fling with the permanently be-suited Matthieu (Tom Dingler) under wraps. Stressed-out architect and mum-to-be Milou is the most caricatured of the bunch, but Charlotte and Antoine’s relationship (they’re the brother-sister of the group, like Ross and Monica only far less irritating) is notably believable.

The Hookup Plan delivers a feel-good first series that isn’t afraid to delve into big, complicated emotions. Slick, stylish, sexy and set in Paris, this is one to watch if you’re looking for a fresh take on the ingredients of the longform rom-com.