PBS delivers a new and modern take on an iconic detective in Maigret
There is nothing meagre about Maigret. First introduced to the public by author Georges Simenon in his 1931 novel Pietr the Latvian, French police detective Jules Maigret — thanks to his Belgian creator — paved the way for a new literary genre: detective fiction. Now, after 75 novels, 28 short stories and more than 30 actors having portrayed the detail-oriented, streetwise policeman onscreen, Maigret is finding a new home on PBS, via the U.S. public broadcaster’s long-running Masterpiece imprint.
The series, reimagined for modern audiences, focuses on the titular Parisian chief inspector, who, per the official synopsis, “heads the elite police unit known as La Crim, responsible for investigating all serious crime in and around Paris.”
In this new iteration, Benjamin Wainwright (Belgravia: The Next Chapter) inhabits the famed sleuth. Wainwright, in fact, is the 35th actor to portray the character on screen, a lengthy and prestigious list that includes the likes of Charles Laughton, Richard Harris and, most recently, Mr. Bean’s Rowan Atkinson.
According to PBS, Maigret “is an unconventional young detective with something to prove, relentless in his investigations, with an uncanny ability to get under the skin of the criminals he is chasing and a matchless knowledge of Paris and its inhabitants.”
Largely filmed in Budapest, Hungary, in order to evoke the look and feel of Paris without the luxury price tag, this newest iteration of the beloved character’s story is the first adaptation to be set against a contemporary backdrop, thus bringing cases and character quirks to the forefront in a more relatable way for modern audiences. And with just three main cases spanning all six episodes of the series’ first season, viewers may also appreciate this departure from the neatly arranged one-case-per-episode model that has become standard issue for the traditional one-hour procedural.
“Maigret will be a perfect addition to Masterpiece’s lineup of Mystery! shows,” Susanne Simpson, executive producer and head of scripted content for Masterpiece, said in statement, promising that “our audience is going to love Inspector Maigret and his unique style of crime solving.”
Just as the character has been updated, so too is the way viewers will experience Paris, from the Ritz to the riff-raff, in a departure from the oft-idealized, romantic take on the city that is so often portrayed on both screen and page.
“Maigret inhabits a vividly realized Paris not often seen on camera,” PBS teases, “that takes us from the glitzy upper-class world of luxury hotels and mansions to local bourgeois bistros and bars and the underground haunts of the professionally criminal.”
Of course, as many fans of Simenon’s work or adaptations will already be aware, Paris is frequently positioned as a central character within the Maigret novels. In fact, this focus on a location and the social fabric therein is key to Simenon’s oeuvre, meaning that — even with the updated take on its main character — Maigret manages to channel the spirit of its author 36 years after his death at home in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Joining Wainwright in bringing Maigret’s characters to life are Stefanie Martini (The Last Kingdom) as Louise Maigret, wife of the leading man, while Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners), Reda Elazouar (Sex Education), Shaniqua Okwok (The Flatshare), Kerrie Hayes (Tin Star) and Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders) portray Maigret’s fellow Paris-based cops, who together make up the chief inspector’s own unofficial task force known as “Les Maigrets.”
The series premiere of Maigret on Masterpiece airs Sunday, October 5, on KCTS and WTVS