AN EPISODE IN MONACO

Visiting the glamorous Côte d'Azur principality for the annual Monte-Carlo Television Festival, Jane Cornwell encounters small-screen stars past, present and future.

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The night sky is twinkling over the garden peninsula of the Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel and Resort, where - to the sound of DJ-generated grooves and lapping Mediterranean wavelets - a wealth of international celebrities, top-tier TV professionals and noted Monaco locals have gathered, champagne flutes in hand, to chat, network and get on down by the hotel's sand-bottomed cerulean lagoon.

There, sharp-suited and lantern-jawed, is Luke Cook, Sydney-born star of the US dramedy Good Cop/Bad Cop. Over there is writer/producer Brendan Foley, creator of the Victorian-era mystery Sherlock & Daughter, chatting to Blu Hunt, its winsome costar.

Among the crowd are cast members of TV series from Gangs of London to Watson and Little House on the Prairie. Actresses Judith Light, Robin Wright and our own Rachel Griffiths might be here, but from where I am on the dance floor, funking with a still sprightly Antonio Fargas, a.k.a. Huggy Bear from 1970s hit show Starsky & Hutch, it's impossible to tell. It is the 64th Monte-Carlo Television Festival, and this event - the 'Night of 1000 Stars' gala supporting Make-A-Wish International, a charity granting wishes to critically ill children - is a feature of a program otherwise held over four days (from 13-17 June) at the Grimaldi Forum up the road. There, inside a modern conference space inaugurated in 2000 and named after the historical reigning family of Monaco, the House of Grimaldi, the festival was opened by Prince Albert II after a grand blue-carpet entrance by actors, directors and producers in tuxes and evening dresses.