Kommissar Maigret

Watching Maigret played by Rupert Davies when I should have been doing my homework is one of the reasons I did not so well at school. Others are, The Saint, Danger Man, Quatermass and the Pit, The Avengers, and so on. All the products of UK TV. But perhaps they were in fact produced by the Soviets to undermine the education of British kids like me. I have recovered but would really like the BBC to release the surviving Maigret episodes. They cant be doing any good stuck where they are.

Maigret showed me a France that excited my imagination and caused me to read every book that George Simenon ever wrote. I was not disappointed by Simenon. And Rupert Davies would have had a hard time convincing me that he was not genuinely French if we ever met. As for Ewen Solon, I could never see him as anything but Lucas in any subsequent appearances.

I believe the Michael Gambon Maigret was shot in Budapest because Paris didn't look like Paris any more! There are no such problems here. This is the Paris of the books, and Rupert Davies is Maigret exactly as Simenon conceived him. It was this authenticity that made me buy it as soon as it came out.

Thus the scenery and atmosphere are perfect. The stories, inevitably, are variable, but I'd call them good to excellent. The acting is solid rather than anything better - clearly there were no funds for retakes and there is usually a fluffed line or two in every episode.

The weak spot is the technical quality. Episode One is an outlier, in that it is so poor it is difficult to watch. From Episode Two it is very much better, but still not great. But then, would it have been any better for the TV viewer of the time, watching a 405 line transmission on an 18 inch set?

Anyway I'm delighted to have bought this wonderful time capsule.

I don't care if its b&w & old. This will transport you to France -- Paris and the seaside and the countryside. I am so glad this series is available. It has an amazing cast of characters that you will believe are all French. I watch a lot of "foreign" films and have a higher tolerance for subtitles than most but it is a joy not to have to struggle with subtitles for once and still get the full flavor of another culture. Btw, I had no idea there were so many evil old ladies in France. Love the cafes, the food, the wine and Maigret's constant attempts to keep his pipe going. I found the first 3 seasons on Kino. Hoping the 4th will show up.

I still remember watching Maigret on the box when it was broadcast.

I hadn't heard of the stories author Georges Simenon, but I enjoyed viewing the program with my family.

At the time I wished we had colour television to really be able to appreciate the Parisian scenes.

But even in monochrome it was really brilliant, and extremely atmospheric, drawing you into the scenes and stories.

I have no interest in cars or with motoring, but I do recall being enthralled by the sight of the Citroen cars. I just can't explain the rationale behind this, but they just looked so great that I wanted one when I could drive a car.

I've never watched any other versions, I just couldn't be asked as this version made such a big impression on me.

I have just finished the first five episodes from the new Network Video release. Since I am an American and have never seen these episodes on-air, my opinion may differ from theirs.

As this new DVD format is the one most likely to be encountered by a modern viewer, I will address that directly. The video quality of the episodes is comparable to perhaps the earliest "I Love Lucy" episodes you may have seen, or very early "Super Man" shows. Unlike them, the exterior shots are fine and they seem to have actually taken Rupert across the Channel to film them (unlike Roger Moore in "The Saint"). But the interiors are a different story. There were sometimes issues with the video transfer process and it shows in the interiors (especially Episode 1). The interior sets look very much like something put together week by week. The standing sets for his office are a bit more detailed. The sound is like a stage production recorded. Even for 1960 some of the acting is very stage-like, with unrealistic speech and exaggerated mannerisms.

So if you can get past the late 50's production quality Rupert Davies and Ewen Solon are fine and the stories seem as effective to me as modern Maigret renditions of them (I've never read the books). Most of the supporting actors are good enough.

All 52 episodes are available, so there's quite a lot to enjoy if this is your cup of tea. But I must warn you that the production values are not even vaguely comparable to a show like 1958's "Peter Gunn", much less more modern versions.