I consider Michael Gambon’s performance of Maigret to be just about perfect. Therefore, seeing a young Benjamin Wainwright starring as Maigret was a bit disconcerting. I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch this new series…but eventually I relented.
Simenon’s novel was first published in 1961. I reread it before I watched the PBS version. Other than the death of the Lazy Burglar and the bank robbers, the new rendition of Maigret features a good looking Benjamin Wainwright, with a scruffy beard and a shirt that’s never tucked in, investigating crimes while pushing back on the bureaucracy.
Wainwright’s Maigret works in a contemporary Police Station with computers and Internet and all the forensic extras–none of which were in Simenon’s novel. What is kept of Simenon’s chief of detectives is that both the novel and the TV series have a very capable crime solver. I enjoyed the first installment of the PBS Maigret series and will continue watching it. GRADE: B
I don’t know…you take the stories from their milieu and they lose a certain something. That’s why the Michael Gambon series was so successful: Paris (or, rather, Prague—standing in for mid-century Paris) was a character in and of itself.
Deb, there’s a lot of scenic shots in MAIGRET AND THE LAZY BURGLAR of Paris…but it’s today’s Paris with all the traffic and helicopters and scooters. Georges Simenon’s Paris of 1961 was a lot different.
I thought it was Budapest, Deb. Whatever.
I thought the third one was the best, though it could have been getting used to him as Maigret.
Also, they made Lucas and Janvier women (the latter is black), and Lapointe is Middle Eastern.
Jeff, yes, I forgot to mention the multi-racial, multi-gender team Maigret commands. Not in Simenon’s books…
Jeff is correct – the series was mainkyfilmed in Budapest – where my partner’s family lives. A really nice town with lots of memories of the last centuries.
I#ve onlyread and watched the original series and ereally njoyed it!
Sorry for all the typing mistakes – but I’m sure you got it …
Wolf, this new MASTERPIECE MAIGRET is very different from the novels.
Like you, I prefer Michael Gambon. Back many, many years ago, I read almost all of the Maigrets and enjoyed them. I’d have a hard time telling you which ones I’ve read because each has had so many different titles and I get easily confused. Outside of an occasional short story, I have not read Simenon for some thirty years, in part because I was turned off by his personal history and lifestyle.
I’m hesitant to watch the new series because I distrust television marketers. I fear it will turn out to be merely a case of let’s put the name of a well-known character to headline a show that has little or nothing to do with the original character. Reimagining has its limits with me.
Jerry, I’m with you on the marketing of well-known characters. Although MASTERPIECE MAIGRET is a complete update of the novels, I like the actors and the plots. I’ll keep watching.
I hate hate hate updated series with stubble-faced male models, gender and ethnicity swaps for no good reason, and, usually, a car chase!
Bob, no car chases so far, but a handsome–if scruffy–Maigret, his beautiful wife, and his DEI team (Trump wouldn’t accept it) make for some entertaining TV on PBS.