Trivia / Maigret

Trivia pages for specific Maigret works:

• Maigret (2016)
• Maigret (2022)

Maigret works in general:

• Approval of God: Georges Simenon considered Rupert Davies, who played Maigret in the 1960s BBC series to be the definitive version in his lifetime. Upon meeting him, Simenon exclaimed: "C'est Maigret, c'est Maigret. You are the flesh and bones of Maigret!" He also liked Gino Cervi's portrayal in the 1960s Italian films and TV series.
• California Doubling:
  • Zig-zagged with the 1960s BBC series. Although studio filming took place in the UK, exterior shooting did take place in Paris.
  • The Italian series with Gino Cervi was filmed in, well, Italy, at the RAI studios in Rome. Only a handful of sequences were filmed in Paris.
  • The series starring Bruno Cremer had "Parisian" scenes shot in Prague and Budapest.
  • The series starring Michael Gambon as Maigret was also shot in Budapest, doubling for Paris again.
  • Ditto with the Rowan Atkinson version, in Budapest again.
  • Semi-averted with the 2022 film starring Gérard Depardieu. It was filmed in the Île-de-France region around Paris, though not in Paris itself.
  • Even some of the actual French adaptations (or at least the ones maintaining the period setting), refrain from shooting in Paris due to how much the city has visually changed in the intervening decades.
• Creator-Preferred Adaptation: Of all adaptations made in Simenon's lifetime, the British 1960s series with Rupert Davies was apparently his favorite.
• The Danza: The 1988 British TV film had Caroline Munro as Carolyn Page and Victoria Tennant as Victoria Portman.
• Fake Nationality: The French Maigret has been played by a number of British actors (Charles Laughton, Rupert Davies, Richard Harris, Rowan Atkinson etc) and at least one Italian (Gino Cervi) in non-French productions. Dutch and German actors have also portrayed the character. The only major adaptation to change the character's nationality, was the 1970s Japanese series Tokyo Megure Keishi.
• International Coproduction: The 1991-2005 series was produced by companies from France, Belgium, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.
• Promoted Fanboy: Richard Harris was a big fan of the Maigret stories (he had avidly read 60 or 70 of the stories) and got to play him in the 1988 TV film.
• Referenced by...:
  • Case Closed: The name of Inspector Juuzou Megure is a reference to "Jules Maigret" (though since he's not the main character, he's instead stuck in an Inspector Lestrade role). To further the Shout-Out, the Day in the Limelight case expanding on his backstory has a plot loosely based off Maigret Sets A Trap.
  • De Kiekeboes: In De Doedelzak van Mac Reel ("The Bagpipes of Mac Rel") a Scottish detective is hired named McGret, wearing the same grey raincoat and smoking a similar pipe like Maigret.
  • Labyrinths of Echo: Kofa Yokh's appearance is compared to Maigret, which becomes a plot point late in the second volume, where Max almost lets himself be convinced that all of them were just figments of his imagination, based on his favorite movies—a possible instance of the author admitting to lazy writing, as this technique is never used again throughout rest of the series.
• Reunion Show: Six years after the Rupert Davies series ended, Davies and co-stars Helen Shingler and Neville Jason, reprised their roles for "Maigret at Bay", a feature length adaptation of "Maigret Defends Himself" for The BBC Play of the Month.
• What Could Have Been: Julien Guiomar was contacted first to play Maigret for the French series that started in 1991, but he was not available due to playing in another crime drama, Commissaire Chabert. Bruno Cremer was cast instead.
• You Look Familiar:
  • Jacques Ciron played two different roles in the Jean Richard series.
  • Ticky Holgado also played two different roles in the Jean Richard series.
  • Michael Lonsdale played two different roles in the Bruno Cremer series.
  • Vincent Grass played two roles in the Bruno Cremer series and voiced Maigret once in it.

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