Simenon himself said of Davies "At last, I have found the perfect Maigret!" [5] Production [ edit ] a b "ITV Press Centre - "ITV commissions further Maigret films starring Rowan Atkinson" ". ITV Press Centre. 17 June 2016 . Retrieved 17 June 2016.

Series 2 [ edit ] These buildings on Alkotmány Street, Szentendre became the Picratt for Maigret in Montmartre. [9]This review largely repurposes material from my review of Maigret—Season 2, reflecting the program’s consistent high quality. Select random episodes from seasons 2-4 and you’ll be hard-pressed to identify which of those seasons they’re from. The first season (or, in British parlance, “series”) did not go to France for exterior shooting as did all the later seasons did, but otherwise Maigret is essentially unchanging throughout its run—no cast changes, no budget fluctuations, no drop in quality. A few episodes I found more than a little dull, but most are excellent, and Rupert Davies is so wonderful as Maigret that mystery fans should find the series a delight. Highly recommended.

Follow in the footsteps of Rowan Atkinson's Maigret… in Budapest". radiotimes.com. 16 April 2017 . Retrieved 19 July 2018. 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. [12] So, January 2022, but I see the review just posted by 'Sir-Oblong' (?!) makes no allowances for the usual production standards of that distant era. Maybe he hasn't seen perhaps 'Z Cars' - much loved but with similar creaky scenery!! Or the infamous Crossroads, with wobbly sets and even more wobbly acting, of necessity as doing many shows in an extreme hurry, on a tiny budget! Of course the Gambon series looks better, they had a vastly better budget, and the technical advances greatly helped with the picture quality. That series had shows that ran for longer (90 mins or 2 hours, from fading memory) so the stories could be developed in a better way, but the Davies version was actually shot in Paris (for the externals) so has that extra benefit. I’ve always struggled a bit with this British convention of video studio interiors intercut with shot-on-film exteriors, but this release smooths out those transitions more than usual. It also tones down the harsh video quality of the in-studio photography, not exactly giving episodes a film-like look, but maybe settling on a middle-ground, somewhere between the looks of video and film.

Maigret, Season 4

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. [2] Episodes included such well-known faces as Stratford Johns, Leon Cortez, Terence Alexander, Roger Delgado, William Franklyn, Michael Goodliffe, and Barry Foster, among others. [2] 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. [4] a b Howard, Kirsten (30 May 2018). "Maigret has been cancelled". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019 . Retrieved 20 January 2019.

The perfunctory episode guide booklet offers titles, airdates, short synopses of each episode, writer and director but does not list guest stars, nor does it indicate on which disc each episode can be found. The English DTS-HD Master Audio (2.0 mono) is acceptable, and supported by optional English subtitles. The main extra this time is the BBC Play of the Month episode Maigret at Bay from 1969, running 92 minutes. Unlike the original series, the film elements here did survive, and look pristine, while technological advances in video production make the videotaped interiors look a bit better than the original show. Impressively, the program once again maintains remarkable consistency; though actor Ewen Solon is absent, otherwise it plays very much like an extended final episode of the show.Based on the Maigret stories of Georges Simenon, the series starred Rupert Davies in the title role.

Theme music and various incidental music was composed by Ron Grainer [6] for which he won an Ivor Novello award. [6] Apart from the pilot, all 52 episodes remain within the BBC's archives. [7]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.