Maigret (1960 TV series)

The series starred Rupert Davies as the Police Judiciaire detective Commissaire Jules Maigret, who took up the role in 1960 after Basil Sydney, who had played Maigret in the pilot episode, was unable to continue. [1]

The main cast were:-

• Ewen Solon as Lucas [1]
• Neville Jason as Lapointe [1]
• Victor Lucas as Torrence
• Helen Shingler as Madame Maigret [1]

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]

Although staying largely true to the storyline of the books, the series featured only three of Maigret's team of detectives (the "faithful four",[3] omitting any casting for Janvier.

Rupert Davies

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]

"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."[4]

Simenon himself said of Davies "At last, I have found the perfect Maigret!"[5]

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]

Directing was similarly shared by sixteen directors, with Gerard Glaister and Terence Williams responsible for eight each, Andrew Osborn seven, and Eric Tayler six.[2] 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.

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]

(with dates of first broadcast on BBC TV)

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