Maigret

We have been having our daily dose of watching Maigret over the past month. We started with the Rowan Atkinson version which is very good but this Micheal Gambon version is far more approachable and likeable. He is intense but caring. The stories are a bit transparent but when taken as a "who dunnit" it is a good watch. I am looking to reading some of the books now that we have exhausted the series and seeing if they are equally as good as an escape.

If you like the British mysteries then I think you would enjoy Maigret and would recommend it. It is very British and make no attempt to embody French mannerisms, accents, or style. It does nicely capture the style of what we expect 1950's Paris.

Unlike many Maigret fans, I have never read any of Georges Simenon's books. So I never heard of Maigret till one of our PBS channels started showing it on "Mystery!" several years ago. Right away I knew I loved it. This show is so realistic! Michael Gambon is great as Inspector Maigret, and his subordinates and the bad guys are all great characters as well. The cases the Chief Inspector solves are really very interesting. Also the locations and sets make you feel as if you are right there on the case with the Chief Inspector and his men. It's great to sit back and watch him slowly solve a mystery. You can tell that a lot of thought was put into the making of this show. Pity it was only made for 2 seasons. But at least that gives us 12 great episodes to watch. I was able to tape series 2 before our PBS channel stopped playing it. Fortunately it's available on video if you know where to look. I'd rate this at least a 9 on a scale of 10.

This is a splendid series which I have recently obtained on DVD. Memories of when I first watched it seventeen years ago have come flooding back. But so did the irritation over one particular episode - Series 1 Ep 4. Maigret returns to his home village on All Souls Day (2nd November) a day when a priest is allowed to offer three Masses. Here the priest for a requiem Mass is dressed not in black vestments (appropriate for Masses of the dead in the 1950's) but in green vestments and not vestments for a priest but those of a deacon. When so much authenticity is captured in a production it was a pity that woeful ignorance of simple ecclesiastical matters was allowed to have such free rein. If those concerned in production are unsure about church customs then it is usually easy to find out for certain. But, all in all, a great series - delightful to watch and I give it 8 out of 10.

Filmed I think in Budapest, it has the shabby, faded look of the 50s. Writing, directing and acting are all top-notch. Many respected thespians pass through: Peter Blythe, Edward Petherbridge, Betty Marsden, Toyah Wilcox, Anne Todd - yes, that Anne Todd. Like the Simenon novels, the episodes are thick with atmosphere and explore the seedy realities of life. The characters are not nice middle class people who appreciate classical music and whose children go to good schools. They are a spendthrift playboy in a mouldy chateaux, or a stripper with - not a heart of gold but a few moments of tenderness. They are dentist's assistants, schoolboys, mendacious antique dealers, toyboys, prostitutes. See it if you can. xxxx

We used to watch this in French in high school! I absolutely loved the days when we'd walk in and be told we got to watch Maigret. They're kinda old, but way interesting, and we almost never knew what was going to happen. The episodes aren't predictable, which makes it all the more interesting. I hate when you know what's going to happen before it does, but I don't recall an instance where that was the case. It's totally worth checking out if you like a good mystery. And they really are great for French classes. I don't think we watched them in French with English subtitles like we did with other movies, but he's a French detective and there are a lot of French words and sites that are helpful to the students. We also used to write summaries of the stories entirely in French, so if you're a teacher, it's a great combination of comprehension and writing. If you decide you like these, or are looking for something similar, try watching Poirot. It's a series based on the stories by Agatha Christie. Same type of thing, but I'm partial to Maigret myself!