7.6 /10 1 Votes
6.7/10 TV Created by Georges Simenon Opening theme The Maigret Theme First episode date 1960 Number of seasons 4 Written by Giles Cooper | 8.7/10 IMDb Genre Crime drama Theme music composer Ron Grainer Country of origin United Kingdom Final episode date 24 December 1963 Network BBC One | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Starring Rupert Davies, Ewen Solon, Neville Jason, Helen Shingler Cast Rupert Davies, Michael Gambon, Ewen Solon, Victor Lucas, Henry Oscar Similar Z‑Cars, The Avengers, Man in a Suitcase, Maisie Raine, Whitechapel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
maigret uk tv series 1960 63 closing credits sequence
Maigret is a British television series made by the BBC and which – following a pilot episode broadcast in 1959 – ran for 52 episodes from 1960 to 1963.
Contents
Based on the Maigret stories of Georges Simenon, the series starred Rupert Davies in the title role.
Cast
The series starred Rupert Davies as the Sûreté detective Commissaire Jules Maigret, who took up the role in 1960 after Basil Sydney, who had played Maigret in the pilot episode, was unable to continue.
The main cast were:-
Episodes included such well-known faces as Stratford Johns, Terence Alexander, Roger Delgado, William Franklyn, Michael Goodliffe, and Barry Foster, among others.
Although staying largely true to the storyline of the books, the series featured only three of Maigret's team of detectives (the “faithful four”, omitting any casting for Janvier.
The choice of Davies to play Maigret was enthusiastically approved by Simenon himself. Remembering the role in a 1964 interview Davies said "When Andrew Osborn, the producer of the show, offered me the part on Good Friday in 1960, I knew very little about Maigret. I knew he was a famous French fictional detective, but that was all." Rather than read the books to get the feel for the character, Davies thought it would be better to meet Maigret's creator and hear from him how he saw the character. The BBC agreed and a meeting was arranged between Davies and Simenon in Lausanne.
"The moment Simenon saw me he shouted: "C'est Maigret, c'est Maigret. You are the flesh and bones of Maigret!" Davies later remembered. "That was a wonderful beginning. Then he drove us to his lovely château in the village of Enchandens, where I met his wife. Later he began to coach me in Maigret's idiosyncrasies."
Production
The series was written by a set of ten writers, each contributing individual episodes; the most prolific being Giles Cooper, credited with nineteen episodes, and Roger East, with twelve.
Directing was similarly shared by sixteen directors, with Gerard Glaister and Terence Williams responsible for eight each, Andrew Osborn seven, and Eric Taylor six. Each episode was shot in black-and-white and lasted 50 minutes, and (as it was made for the BBC) was intended to be screened without commercial breaks. It was shot mainly in studio, though many of the exteriors were filmed on location in Paris.
The haunting theme music was composed by Ron Grainer. Apart from the pilot, all 52 episodes still reside within the BBC's archives.
Episodes
(with dates of first broadcast on BBC TV)