VISION ON SOUND EPISODE 142 - TX JUNE 25 2023 - MAIGRET

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on June 25th 2023

Way back in October 2021, in the fifty-fifth edition of the show if you want to seek it out, LISA and ANDREW joined me to chat about the then relatively brand new release of the BBC’s 1960s version of MAIGRET on Blu-Ray and DVD, so, with eighteen months having passed since, it doesn’t seem too soon to return to talking about the Belgian writer GEORGES SIMENON’s Detective creation, who featured in an astonishing 75 novels and a further 28 short stories across a very long and successful writing career.

Especially as it is a Detective series, like SHERLOCK HOLMES, that has been returned to time and again and has been presented in many forms and variations over the decades, so, whilst that version starring RUPERT DAVIES which ran from 1960 to 1963 may hold a special nostalgic place in the nation’s heart, on UK TV alone there have been at least two new versions produced, a very well received version starring MICHAEL GAMBON in the early nineties, and a short-lived variant made about eight years ago featuring ROWAN ATKINSON which proved to be something of a hit at the time but failed to be recommissioned.

All three of these versions have attempted adaptations of the book MAIGRET IN MONTMARTRE, which in itself makes for a fabulous opportunity for the archive TV viewer to see how different eras treat the same source material.

Then there are the other successful versions made both in FRANCE and in other countries across the world, featuring actors like GINO CERVI, JEAN RICHARD, and BRUNO CREMER, all of which have been terribly popular in their counties of origin, and some of which have even managed to make in onto British TV screens so that we can make even more comparisons of how other countries choose to do MAIGRET.

Anyway, STEVE HATCHER is back this week, and, in that thorough way he has of viewing television series in as many of its manifestations as he can get his hands on, he’s been watching several of the versions of MAIGRET made for both film and television over the decades, and he’s joining us to give us the background to as many as he can, whilst putting some VIANDE SUR LES OS of what we call THE SIX FACES OF MAIGRET.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content sometimes has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains (mostly) as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.