First picture released from ITV’s Maigret with Rowan Atkinson as lead; starts filming

Photographer: John Rogers.

Let’s face it – when the BBC began a new partnership with Agatha Christie’s estate and Poirot finished (as well as Foyle’s War), ITV needed a vintage-era detective series. So when it announced it had cast Rowan Atkinson as the venerable Maigret, it many ways it wasn’t too much of a surprise. There hasn’t been an incarnation of Georges Simenon’s classic detective since Michael Gambon took the lead role back in the early 1990s, but Rowan Atkinson? The supreme comic actor’s casting as the French detective rankled with many. But perhaps seeing the first picture of him in full costume might change the mind of those who turned up their nose up.

UKTV acquires Criminal Minds spin-off and Quantico for UK

Gary Sinise. You have to love Gary Sinise. He plays uptight very well, and in CSI: New York he was so good as the, well, uptight head of the NYC’s CSI division. So it’s great to see him back in a starring role, and what’s even greater is that British network UKTV is bringing his new series to these shores, as well as a new FBI thriller that just about qualifies as crime drama. Have a read after the jump…