Michel Drucker

Sport first, then the ORTF

Michel Drucker was born on 12 September 1942 in Vire, in the Calvados department of Normandy, about 60 kilometres south of Caen [4]. In a July 2026 interview he said he was about to start his 64th season on television in September, and that he would be 84 [7]. Sport was his first profession, and he still follows it closely [7].

His career officially began in 1965 in the sports department of the ORTF, the French state broadcaster of the time [5]. INA's archive dates his television debut to 1965 as well [6].

Connexion France says he moved to Paris in the early 1960s and later landed a sports journalism job on the programme Sports Dimanche, without giving a date [4]. In a June 2022 interview he described himself as a native of Basse-Normandie who was welcomed in Provence, and said he had always felt more provincial than Parisian [8].

From variety shows to Champs-Elysees

INA's archive lists Tilt, a variety magazine he presented, with a broadcast date of 5 October 1966 [6]. The same archive credits him with Les Rendez-vous du dimanche, which he hosted for eight years [6].

Champs-Elysees began in January 1982. Ozap says it was created on 9 January 1982 at the Espace Cardin and moved to the Studio Gabriel a year later [5]. INA gives 16 January 1982 as the broadcast date of the first issue [6]. The two dates are a week apart, so this page gives only the month.

Connexion France says he hosted the show from 1982 to 1990 and returned to it from 2010 to 2013 [4]. Ozap says the first run lasted eight years and that he left public service in 1990 [5]. On Antenne 2, Ozap says he was given the early-evening Saturday prime-time slots [5].

Vivement Dimanche, from France 2 to France 3

Since 1998 he has held the Sunday afternoon slot with Vivement Dimanche [5]. The programme aired on France 2 from 1998 to 2022 and moved to France 3 in August 2022 [4]. By then he had spent 36 years on France 2 [8].

When the move was announced in June 2022, he said he was moving to a channel that suits his personality [8].

By July 2026 he had presented the programme for almost 25 years, and he said it keeps renewing itself [7]. His last Vivement Dimanche episode aired on 28 June [7].

He also said the show would move closer to the regions after the change of channel, a point the DH Net article paraphrases rather than quotes [8].

Three Sundays off air in 2026

Vivement Dimanche is not always on air on France 3 on a Sunday. Tendance Ouest reported that the programme was not shown on 3 May 2026, when France 3 broadcast a rugby match, a Challenge Cup semi-final between Montpellier and the Dragons [3]. The article says the channel had made similar changes for major cycling races in earlier weeks, naming Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and that no return date had been confirmed [3].

On 18 October 2026, Stars-Actu reported that France 3 changed its usual schedule to make room for rugby. It did not name the match [2].

For Sunday 1 November 2026, the Toussaint weekend, Titres Presse reports that France 3 pulled Michel Drucker and Vivement Dimanche from the schedule, citing Toutelatele [1]. The article says the channel changed its strategy for that weekend but gives no explicit reason [1]. The sources reviewed for this page do not give a reason for that Sunday, and the article does not say when the programme returns.

The reports above are press coverage, not a broadcaster's schedule. Anyone checking a specific Sunday should compare them with the France 3 listings before relying on them. The two reports that name a reason both point to rugby or cycling on France 3, although Stars-Actu does not name the rugby match [3] [2].

Another France 3 programme under budget pressure

On 4 July 2026, Pure People reported that Michel Drucker expects the programme Famille je vous aime to stop. In the report he is quoted saying that it will probably stop for budget reasons [9]. The article gives no end date for the programme [9].