Rowan Atkinson as Maigret....

[Nick Armstrong]

(Easter Monday on ITV)...

... Can this possibly work?

I was sceptical about Prince George in the current Le Carré adaptation, and that certainly works I think.

But Blackadder in Simenon?

[french frank]

... Can this possibly work?

These 'miscastings' often do work if the actor manages to impose a distinctive character from the start (many viewers will not have seen Rupert Davies).

[I remember once buying a Radio Times and seeing a photo of David Jason publicising a brand new detective series (Frost, perhaps?). The immediate thought was, 'A photo of David Jason, pretending to be a detective.' Broadcasters know that well-known faces attract viewers. But somehow Rowan Atkinson seemed born to be a comedian …

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

RA certainly looks convincing in the trailers. It'll be fun to find out if he succeeds. Rupert Davies is before my conscious time, but I remember seeing the wonderful Michael Gambon in the early '90s and thinking what dull stories they seemed to be!

The Maigret stories were Stravinsky's favoured choice of detective fiction; he was reading them up until his final illness.

[Nick Armstrong]

It'll be fun to find out if he succeeds.

It'll also be fun learning vinteuil's view - a Simenon fan, I recall, though with a penchant for non-Maigret stories I think

(I never saw the Rupert Davies versions (too young! ), though seem to remember that the subsequent Michael Gambon versions were a rather dour disappointment)

[ardcarp]

It'll be fun to find out if he succeeds.

I suppose it depends on how much the director wants to camp it up. I can imagine that one of RA's naughty looks to camera might derail the whole thing. I remember Rupert Davies, BTW. Will they keep that evocative accordion theme? Hope they do.

[vinteuil]

... as long as there's one of these, Caliban will be happy -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%C3%ABn_Traction_Avant

[Petrushka]

I love the Maigret books and remember Rupert Davies (I believe his family came from here or something like that) in the series quite well.

Afraid Rowan Atkinson is just too much Mr Bean for this to work for me but having now accepted Hugh Laurie in The Night Manager, there's hope yet.

[ChrisBennell]

There's a few Rupert Davies (Maigret) episodes on You Tube. The video quality is a bit poor and they're B&W of course. They seem mostly to be arranged in bite-sized chunks of around 10 minutes each. For anyone that likes a nostalgia trip.....

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=maigret+rupert+davies+full+episodes

[ardcarp]

... as long as there's one of these, Caliban will be happy -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%...Traction_Avant

Me too.

[Nick Armstrong]

... as long as there's one of these, Caliban will be happy -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citro%...Traction_Avant

You make it irresistible to post a pic of my old 11 Légère (a tiny version used to be on my profile here).





Fifteen odd years now since I used to potter round London in it, and elsewhere (I drove rubbernecker, formerly of this parish and whose Best Man I was, to his wedding in that car )

It expired with a big bang on the A1 one day, and was never the same after the (major) repair


.

[slarty]

I shall give RA the benefit of the doubt until I have seen it, at least the locations will be similar to the Gambon series which I liked. I remember Rupert Davies very well, and I greatly enjoy the French series with Bruno Cremer. BBC4 showed a couple of them in 2009.
The most unlikely Maigret for me was Richard Harris who played him in a 1988 TV movie.
It is difficult to find Maigret in French, but with English subtitles, but Amazon Canada seems to have some, I must investigate.

[ardcarp]

In case anyone wants to reminisce, here's the original Maigret theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JRMgjVzGKU

[teamsaint]

You make it irresistible to post a pic of my old 11 Légère (a tiny version used to be on my profile here).





Fifteen odd years now since I used to potter round London in it, and elsewhere (I drove rubbernecker, formerly of this parish and whose Best Man I was, to his wedding in that car )

It expired with a big bang on the A1 one day, and was never the same after the (major) repair


.

I think the french have a much healthier relationship with the automobile than we do. ( based on not much evidence at all....)

[vinteuil]

.

... very much looking forward to seeing what they make of this.

I have been re-reading this novella: it's very dependent on a 'feel' for the streets of Montmartre in the 1950s - interesting to find out how they achieve this on the telly.

There are some marvellously obsessive blogs on Simenon's works, and the one on Maigret tend un piège is excellent - here it is :

[ obvious SPOILER ALERT - it does give away the plot ... ]

http://www.trussel.com/maig/momten.htm

[BBMmk2]

Well one of our visiting violin teachers, has her son acting in this show!