Maigret (1960 TV series)

Maigret
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Georges Simenon
Written by	Giles Cooper (19 episodes) and 9 others
Starring	Rupert Davies Ewen Solon Neville Jason Helen Shingler
Theme music composer	Ron Grainer
Opening theme	The Maigret Theme
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52 (plus a pilot episode in 1959)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Andrew Osborn
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC
Release
Original network	BBC One
Picture format	1.33 : 1 Black & white
First shown in	1960
Original release	1960 – 1963
External links
Website

Maigret is a British television series made by the BBC and which – following a pilot episode broadcast in 1959 – ran for 52 episodes from 1960 to 1963.

Based on the Maigret stories of Georges Simenon, the series starred Rupert Davies in the title role.

Cast

The series starred Rupert Davies as the Sûreté 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
• Neville Jason as Lapointe
• Victor Lucas as Torrence
• Helen Shingler as Madame Maigret

Episodes included such well-known faces as Stratford Johns, 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 as Inspector Jules Maigret in “Murder on Monday”

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 Enchandens, where I met his wife. Later he began to coach me in Maigret's idiosyncrasies."^[4]

Production

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 Taylor 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.

The haunting theme music was composed by Ron Grainer.^[2] Apart from the pilot, all 52 episodes still reside within the BBC's archives.^[5]

Episodes

(with dates of first broadcast on BBC TV)

References

External links

• Maigret on the Internet Movie Database
• Maigret on Whirligig
• Maigret fansite
• Maigret on Television Heaven
• Georges Simenon novels (French Wikipedia)