If you can get over the obviously British accents coming out of the French characters, then you will surely enjoy the Maigret Collection, a 1990s mystery series that (again) comes to us from the British (Granada Television). Michael Gambon is excellent as Chief Inspector Jules Maigret. He seems to never be in a hurry. He carefully thinks out his cases, and does not rush to judgement. Inspector Maigret has a very psychological approach when it comes to solving crimes, which his underlings (and superiors!) may not fully appreciate… until he solves his crimes.
I did not see this series when it aired on the PBS or A&E networks. Until I did a little research for this blog, I didn't know that the series had ever aired outside of Great Britain. If you plan to watch all twelve episodes back to back, without the seasons' division that television networks provide, here is one more thing you will have to overlook……….. It's a little unfortunate that with only twelve episodes, they were not able to have just one actress to play the Inspector's wife. At first I wondered if perhaps the second actress was playing a second wife…. not the case. But, if the great Rumpole of the Bailey could have two actresses playing the one and only wife, then so can Maigret!
The one disappointment for me is that Georges Simenon wrote many Maigret novels, so why are there only twelve episodes to this series?!? I sure would have enjoyed more!
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am English but living in Australia. I remember a very long running Maigret series on British TV in the 1970s. It was very good but I gather has not been transferred to DVD.
Hi Sandy,
I wrote an entry about the series which is available on DVD.
Here is my entry about the Maigret series.
Here is the Maigret DVD collection that I was able to find.
And here is the page for the the Maigret author, Georges Simenon.
My husband and I love the Maigret collection… Michael Gambon was perfect for the Maigret character, even without the French accent!