Maigret, The Series and The Books.

[scloyd]

The last few nights I have been watching on Britbox the newest Maigret series starring Rowan Atkinson. The series consists of four 90 minute episodes. I've never watched or read any Maigret and I really enjoyed the series. I'm hooked on Maigret. Today I'm going to start the 1992 Maigret series starring Michael Gambon (Dumbledore from Harry Potter). Penguin Books has been publishing all of Georges Simenon's Maigret books with new English translations and I just ordered the first Maigret book "Pietr the Latvian". Looking forward to reading it.
Any other Maigret fans here? Any thoughts on the series or books?
Rowan Atkinson as Maigret

Michael Gambon as Maigret

Author Georges Simenon

 

[hugodrax]

Gambon was a delightful Maigret. I have many of the novels, as well.

 

[trudger]

Love the books. You can read them in any order.

 

[elasmo]

Thanks for the heads up - I'll give them a watch later. Love me some Rowan Atkinson since his Blackadder days.

 

[scloyd]

Love the books. You can read them in any order.

That's good to know. Thanks.

 

[jpmcwjr]

Blackadder is one of my all time favorites. Besides Atkinson, there's Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Atkinson is clearly the star in all three (?) series.
Bean, just not my cuppa.
The Maigret, though, sounds great.

 

[mikefu]

I really enjoy the books, I like the Gambon series, and really enjoy the Atkinson episodes. I’ve only seen a couple of the Rupert Davies series from the 60’s.

 

[lochinvar]

My favorite pipe smoking detective. They are great books, pay attention to descriptions though. Depending on the edition/translation, there are several stories that are released with different names (Maigret Goes Home is Maigret and the St. Fiacre Affair, and the like). My favorite ones are the ones set in Paris, they seem to have the scene set better than the ones where Maigret is assigned to the Flying Squad helping out in areas outside Paris, and a few where he is in the US or Holland.

 

[dino]

I’ve been reading the novels and stories for decades. Big fan.

I really enjoy the new Maigret with Rowan Atkinson. Though Michael Gambon and Rupert Davies are physically closer to how Maigret is described, (Simenon liked Davies best), and both are excellent in the role, I think Atkinson is superb. The productions are also quite remarkable, capturing the atmosphere and the mood.

By the way, Rupert Davies recorded a really fun song in 1963, about pipe smoking, “Smoking My Pipe” .
https://www.youtube.com/embed/MVe8STc5FBU

 

[scloyd]

That was a fun song. Thanks for posting Dino.

 

[ukbob]

Only ever seen the series with Atkinson playing the part , will have have to watch the ones with Gambon In, also buy the books.

 

[jpberg]

I’m surprised that the Bruno Cremer led series hasn’t been mentioned. My personal favorite, and it seems to me the closest to the spirit of the books.

 

[scloyd]

The Bruno Cremer led Maigret with English subtitles is available for streaming on MHz Choice. I may start that series in the future...if I don't get Maigret burnout.

 

[pappymac]

I've watched the Gambon series on Amazon Prime and just watched the first episode of the Atkinson series. The first episode in both is the same so it's a good way to compare the actors. I like Gambon more.
I'm always on the look-out for any of the books in the local used bookstores and in Barnes & Nobles and Books-a-Million. Haven't found any yet.

 

[armonts]

":scloyd : The Bruno Cremer led Maigret with English subtitles is available for streaming on MHz Choice. I may start that series in the future...if I don't get Maigret burnout. "

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Yes,exactly, it's the closest to the character and the atmosphere of the books best respected ! :wink:
(with Rowan Atkinson is an effort of scenery, but for French it remains a pale copy and especially the character of Maigret is soft and insignificant, nothing to do with his massive physique and his "presence" in the books.)

 

[armonts]

( The episode "The cellars of the Majestic" I saw it turn in my street, the part that takes place in a house style

year 40/50.

It was nice the Swiss TV technicians who were hanging out in front of my door, it lasted at least 15 days, had to be careful when going out, hide the cars.
(a shot on the bike I forgot they put a bigger behind, and I stopped once behind my gate when an actor was cycling, he laughs but filmed from behind it is not seen.)
They started a Citroën Traction on 50 meters and Crémer came out with dignity.
In short, there was no laptops at the time and Crémer had established his base camp at my neighbor for the practical side, I saw him 1 or 2 times come back and go out in the garden with his famous pipe in hand.
He was not obliged, although a prior cigar smoker he still had to smoke his pipe on the occasion ...
For the anecdote he smoked a Dunhill in the movies but

the white bridge was masked. :roll:

 

[crawdad]

I’ve read all of the Maigret books and was disappointed that an author with such a prolific pipe collection did not reference a pipe brand or tobacco used by the character. I’ve seen Atkinson’s take on the French detective and while I liked the series, I saw only Mr Bean. I think Atkinson is a victim of being irreparably typecast. That’s just my humble two cents.

 

[scloyd]

@armonts - cool story. Thanks for posting.

 

[elpfeife]

I have watched all three Maigret versions several times and like them all. Bruno Cremer is my favorite, but the need to rely on English subtitles probably is a negative for many. The Gambon series is a bit too "talky" for my taste. Atkinson, despite lacking the proper physical stature does a good job, although his portrayal is uber sensitive. It is too bad this series had so few episodes made. We could have used more from Gambon, as well.

 

[jpberg]

I think the Atkinson version was just awful, though it gets points for possibly bringing new readers to a terrific author. @crawdad, everybody smoked pipes , cigars and cigarettes then. There was absolutely no reason to specify a brand. It’d be like pointing out different brands of bottled water in a current film.