Maigret sets a Trap" is an excellent example of this and it makes a great final episode for the first series. Sporting his pipe that seems a nod to Sherlock Holmes, the pragmatic and refined Maigret investigates murders in his singular unhurried manner and inevitably discovers the truth. The settings are so authentic 1950s and although it is shot in colour it seems black and white as the scenes are dreary, which adds to the ambience.

Having read most of the short and long Maigret stories and seen a number of Bruno Cremer's version (French with subtitles), I had looked forward to this version if only because it did not require me to read subtitles. My only criticism is that the episodes would have worked better with a slightly longer running time, maybe 80 minutes.I like the recent,Rowan Atkinson version of Maigret but this version is bigger budget and a better view of Maigret and his team in a more sinful Paris.

Read more about the condition New: An item that is still in its original shrink wrap from the manufacturer and the original manufacturer’s seal (if applicable) has not been removed. In the Gambon series, Gambon is more pleasant, his men work with him as a clever team, and we see much more of Mme. But that only accounts for a small portion of his total number of novels that he wrote, which are more than 250. Have seen Gambon in many movies, series and even he cannot completely 'save' this from being a bit underwhelming. This would have given more time for the development of the characters (we need to know their motivations for Simenon's stories to work) and the atmosphere in which Maigret has to work.In short, there was no laptops at the time and Crémer had established his base camp at my neighbor for the practical side, I saw him 1 or 2 times come back and go out in the garden with his famous pipe in hand.