Atkinson Maigret

Unusually, yesterday evening, we started watching a drama on ITV1 which started as late as 2030. The draw being a new version of 'Maigret au Picratt's', called 'Maigret in Montmatre' and starring the comedy artist Rowan Atkinson.

The original story is to be found in Volume XV of the collected works, sandwiched between 'Les Mémoires de Maigret' and 'L'Homme dans la Rue'. Sadly, one of the volumes which is missing from my collection. On the other hand, we do have and have watched, on several occasions, the adaptation called 'Maigret and the night club dancer' starring Michael Gambon - with the Gambon version being for us the authorised version, the Hickson of Maigret.

Atkinson did not do badly, he survived the translation from his more usual stuff, although he tended to look a bit small done up in a large winter coat. A lot of this not doing too badly was his standing still and not saying too much. Not bad, although I think Gambon did it rather better, was more relaxed in the role. A better size and shape, and generally more in keeping with what we know of Maigret from the original stories.

But the adaptation suffered from the same problem as recent Agatha adaptations. A huge amount of effort appeared to have been poured in making a period drama out of a roman policier, but the result was overcooked. There was far too much going on visually and we only managed the first forty minutes or so before calling it a day.

We have yet to find out where it was filmed. The Gambon version was Budapest, so perhaps thirty years later they have had to go further east to find the authentic Paris of the 1930's and 1940's, the Paris which Simenon remembered from his hideaway in Connecticut in 1950. Kiev? Smolensk?

Half way through getting hold of Volume XV from ebay France (it seems that my edition is the standard, popular edition) so maybe, in due course, I will be able to compare and contrast the selection of episodes from the original story and the insertion of new episodes thought necessary to fill the story out to current tastes & fashions.