Thomas Jolly, who masterminded the unique Olympic opening ceremony in Paris, has been reflecting on how the bad weather on that day last July felt apt.

Diving deep into the ceremony six months on, Jolly told a Series Mania audience that the rain “acted as a throughline in a way” to what the team, which included Call My Agent! creator Fanny Herrero, were trying to do with the ceremony.

“The rain that fell on Lady Gaga also falls on the audience watching from the riverbanks,” he said. “It put us all on an equal footing and that was the key message we wanted to share through the live event – sharing.”

The much-discussed bad weather struck a splashy ceremony that for the first time did not take place in an arena but was conducted with hundreds of boats along the River Seine. Lady Gaga was one of a number of high-profile...