Review: Maigret (Sets A Trap), Monday 28th March, ITV

Parisian Chief Inspector Jules Maigret first appeared in 1931 and smoked his thoughtful way through an amazing 75 novels and 28 short stories (often at the rate of three novels a year). His creator Georges Simenon was Belgian rather than French, but moved to Paris in 1922 to further his writing career. Maigret has been portrayed (in English) by Rupert Davies in the 60s and Michael Gambon in the 90s, and now by Rowan Atkinson in a new ITV series. Atkinson’s first two-hour first episode, Maigret Sets a Trap, is based on the 1955 novel of the same name.

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Interview: Rowan Atkinson, Maigret

It’s the return of Georges Simenon’s Maigret this Easter Bank Holiday Monday, with Rowan Atkinson this time donning the hat and pipe for a new, feature-length adventure. I managed to see it at the press screening a few weeks ago and was impressed at the way the production team had realised 1950s Paris in such glorious, slightly tatty detail. And then there was Atkinson himself, whose appointment as the detective has raised some eyebrows among fans. I thought he was pretty good, but I’d be interested to hear what you, the readers and watchers, think. In the meantime we managed to get hold of an interview (quite a long one actually) with the man himself – who comes across as highly intelligent, considered and quite shy – so read on after the jump…

ITV confirms Maigret transmission date

Photographer John Rogers.

We’ve known for some time that Rowan Atkinson was to step into the shoes (and hat and pipe) of Georges Simenon’s classic French detective, Jules Maigret, and that the first of two new films from ITV were just around the corner. Now the network has confirmed the transmission date and it’s in the next couple of weeks. Stand by for an Easter treat!

Trailer: Maigret, ITV

(c) ITV. Photographer John Rogers.

When Rowan Atkinson was announced as the new Maigret, it felt like a polarising appointment. But I could see why he was cast, and it seemed to me if it worked out it would be an interesting and potentially inspired piece of casting. We’re edging towards transmission of the first film (we’re talking only weeks away, here), which ITV hopes, no doubt, will fill that heritage crime drama slot recently vacated by Marple and Poirot. The good news is that there’s an extended, first-look trailer, which you can watch after the jump.

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.

Rowan Atkinson to play Maigret in new ITV version

Well, this news came out of the blue. One of the most revered British actors in the comedy arena – Rowan Atkinson – is to don the heavy coat and pipe of Georges Simenon’s classic fictional detective, Jules Maigret, in two new ITV adaptations. First seen in print in 1931, Maigret went onto to feature in 75 Simenon-penned novels. ITV, without a Poirot and a Foyle, and Agatha Christie doing a runner back to the BBC, has re-invested in Maigret, a series we last saw on the channel in 1992, starring the equally incomparable Michael Gambon.