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Maigret
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Georges Simenon
Written by	Giles Cooper (19 episodes) and 9 others
Starring	Rupert Davies Ewen Solon Neville Jason Helen Shingler
Theme music composer	Ron Grainer
Opening theme	The Maigret Theme
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52, (plus a pilot episode in 1959)
Production
Executive producer	Andrew Osborn
Running time	50 minutes
Production company	BBC
Original release
Network	BBC TV
Release	1960 (1960) – 1963 (1963)

Maigret is a British television series made by the BBC and which – following a pilot episode broadcast in 1959 – ran for 52 episodes from 1960 to 1963.

Based on the Maigret stories of Georges Simenon, the series starred Rupert Davies in the title role.

Unlike most BBC series produced in the 1960s, all episodes (bar the pilot) have survived intact, and are available as a complete set on DVD and Blu-ray.

In 2022 the series was broadcast by UK television channel Talking Pictures TV.

Cast

Main

• Rupert Davies as Police Judiciaire detective Commissaire Jules Maigret
• Ewen Solon as Lucas
• Neville Jason as Lapointe
• Victor Lucas as Torrence
• Helen Shingler as Madame Maigret

Guests

• Stratford Johns
• Leon Cortez as Lapie
• Terence Alexander
• Roger Delgado
• William Franklyn
• John Carson
• Michael Goodliffe as Dr Javet
• Barry Foster
• Paul Eddington as Harry Brown
• Warren Mitchell as Aristide
• Patrick Troughton as Gaston Meurant
• Peter Barkworth as Sergeant
• Penny Morrell
• Magda Miller
• Peter Blythe
• Redmond Phillips
• Peter Sallis
• Derek Benfield

Rupert Davies took up the role as the Police Judiciaire detective Commissaire Jules Maigret in 1960, after Basil Sydney, who had played Maigret in the pilot episode, was unable to continue.

Although staying largely true to the storyline of the books, the series featured only three of Maigret's team of detectives (the "faithful four"), omitting any casting for Janvier, although the character is mentioned in several episodes.

The choice of Davies to play Maigret was enthusiastically approved by Simenon himself. Remembering the role in a 1964 interview Davies said "When Andrew Osborn, the producer of the show, offered me the part on Good Friday in 1960, I knew very little about Maigret. I knew he was a famous French fictional detective, but that was all." Rather than read the books to get the feel for the character, Davies thought it would be better to meet Maigret's creator and hear from him how he saw the character. The BBC agreed and a meeting was arranged between Davies and Simenon in Lausanne.

"The moment Simenon saw me he shouted: "C'est Maigret, c'est Maigret. You are the flesh and bones of Maigret!" Davies later remembered. "That was a wonderful beginning. Then he drove us to his lovely château in the village of Échandens, where I met his wife. Later he began to coach me in Maigret's idiosyncrasies."

Simenon himself said of Davies "At last, I have found the perfect Maigret!"

Production

The series was written by a set of ten writers, each contributing individual episodes; the most prolific being Giles Cooper, credited with nineteen episodes, and Roger East, with twelve.

Directing was similarly shared by sixteen directors, with Gerard Glaister and Terence Williams responsible for eight each, Andrew Osborn seven, and Eric Tayler six. Each episode was shot in black-and-white and lasted 50 minutes, and (as it was made for the BBC) was intended to be screened without commercial breaks. It was shot mainly in studio, though many of the exteriors were filmed on location in Paris. Interior set designer Eileen Diss spent months scouring France for French items to be used on set, including furniture, ornaments, posters, and cigarette packets; she noted in a 1961 interview that, "Half these things may never be in sharp focus on the screen. But when in a close-up you see a terribly French door-knob behind someone's left ear, it does make just that much extra difference."

Series costar Ewen Solon broke his leg in a stunt while jumping from a wall. Subsequent scripts had to be rewritten to account for the obvious damage which could not be hidden or shot around.

Theme music and various incidental music was composed by Ron Grainer for which he won an Ivor Novello award. Apart from the pilot, all 52 episodes remain within the BBC's archives.

On Sunday, February 9, 1969, BBC One London aired Maigret at Bay as part of its series BBC Play of the Month. This feature-length movie was based on the 1964 novel Maigret Defends Himself (Maigret se défend), and featured Rupert Davies, Helen Shingler, and Neville Jason reprising their series roles of Commissaire Maigret, Madame Maigret, and Lapointe, respectively.

Episodes

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4

Home media

In May 2021, Network Distributing announced the Blu-Ray release of the series (to be released August 2021), with a DVD release soon to follow.

The DVD set of 14 discs does not include the booklet found in the Blu-Ray edition. Sleeve notes inform that the series has been "remastered from original film elements", most likely meaning Kinescope films as distributed world-wide, "original fullscreen TV format".

In 2023, Kino Lorber released the series on Blu-Ray for Region A.

References

1. ^ Pitts 2004.
2. "Maigret (1959-1963)".
3. Maigret's faithful four at trussel.com; retrieved 17 May 2016
4. ^ Maigret (1960) on Television Heaven
5. Winn 2009.
6. Kerridge, Jake (15 August 2021). "Rescued from obscurity: one of TV's greatest ever detective series". Retrieved 23 December 2023.
7. Wise, Arthur (1973). Stunting in the Cinema. London: Constable. p. 205. ISBN 0-09-459090-7.
8. ^ "Ron Grainer". BBC. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
9. "Maigret at lostshows.com".
10. "Maigret at Bay". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 9 February 1969.
11. "Maigret: Classic Mystery Series Starring Rupert Davies Now Available for Streaming". The British TV Place. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
12. Basil Sydney at trussel.com; retrieved 15 May 2016
13. Rupert Davies at trussel.com; retrieved 15 May 2016
14. "Maigret: The Complete Series [DELUXE LIMITED EDITION] SOLD OUT".
15. Galbraith IV, Stuart (9 March 2023). "Maiget: Season 1 (Blu-Ray Review)". The Digital Bits. Retrieved 26 December 2023.

Sources

• Pitts, Michael R (2004). Famous Movie Detectives III. Scarecrow. p. 89. ISBN 978-0810836907.
• Winn, Christopher (2009). I Never Knew That About Wales. Random House. p. 39. ISBN 978-1407028231.

External links

• Maigret (1960–1963) at IMDb
• Maigret on Whirligig
• Maigret fansite
• Maigret on Television Heaven
• Georges Simenon novels (French Misplaced Pages)

• 1960 British television series debuts
• 1960s British crime television series
• 1960s British drama television series
• 1963 British television series endings
• BBC television dramas
• Black-and-white British television shows
• British drama television series
• British detective television series
• British English-language television shows
• Television shows based on works by Georges Simenon
• Serial drama television series
• Television shows based on Belgian novels