Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

jjb-9 Having read most of the short and long Maigret stories and seen a number of Bruno Cremer's version (French with subtitles), I had looked forward to this version if only because it did not require me to read subtitles. But I was very disappointed.Essentially, the BBC has transformed Maigret into a hard-boiled British detective with none of the subtlety of Georges Simenon's French detective. Of course they take liberties with the stories, and this is normal and to be expected with TV / movie dramatizations of books, but the dialog is very disappointing and not at all the Maigret of Simenon.It's not terrible, but Michael Gambon's Maigret is not good either. Better to obtain and watch the Bruno Cremer version, even though it requires you know French or read subtitles.

Enoch Sneed The Michael Gambon Maigrets are very good realisations of the Simenon novels. If you haven't read the books you should know they are less 'whodunnit' than 'whydunnit'. This is what, for my money, gives Simenon the edge over other crime writers. Uncovering the criminal is almost an aside to stories of envy, greed, fraud, petty criminality and the hatreds and resentments in the everyday lives of ordinary people. "Maigret sets a Trap" is an excellent example of this and it makes a great final episode for the first series.The series was filmed in Budapest which makes a very good 1950's Paris (although Maigret worked from 1930 to 1972 in the novels, by which time he would have been about 88) and spares us establishing shots of the Eiffel Tower every two minutes.My only criticism is that the episodes would have worked better with a slightly longer running time, maybe 80 minutes. This would have given more time for the development of the characters (we need to know their motivations for Simenon's stories to work) and the atmosphere in which Maigret has to work. In 'Maigret Goes to School', for example, everyone in the village is against him. All we get in the film is a few minutes of abuse and antagonism from a couple of characters in the local bar.Otherwise this is good, enjoyable TV detective work.

Barry-73 Unlike many Maigret fans, I have never read any of Georges Simenon's books. So I never heard of Maigret till one of our PBS channels started showing it on "Mystery!" several years ago. Right away I knew I loved it. This show is so realistic! Michael Gambon is great as Inspector Maigret, and his subordinates and the bad guys are all great characters as well. The cases the Chief Inspector solves are really very interesting. Also the locations and sets make you feel as if you are right there on the case with the Chief Inspector and his men. It's great to sit back and watch him slowly solve a mystery. You can tell that a lot of thought was put into the making of this show. Pity it was only made for 2 seasons. But at least that gives us 12 great episodes to watch. I was able to tape series 2 before our PBS channel stopped playing it. Fortunately it's available on video if you know where to look. I'd rate this at least a 9 on a scale of 10.

lucy-66 Filmed I think in Budapest, it has the shabby, faded look of the 50s. Writing, directing and acting are all top-notch. Many respected thespians pass through: Peter Blythe, Edward Petherbridge, Betty Marsden, Toyah Wilcox, Anne Todd - yes, that Anne Todd. Like the Simenon novels, the episodes are thick with atmosphere and explore the seedy realities of life. The characters are not nice middle class people who appreciate classical music and whose children go to good schools. They are a spendthrift playboy in a mouldy chateaux, or a stripper with - not a heart of gold but a few moments of tenderness. They are dentist's assistants, schoolboys, mendacious antique dealers, toyboys, prostitutes. See it if you can. xxxx