Maigret is a British television series made by the BBC and which – following a pilot episode broadcast in 1959 – ran for 52 episodes from 1960 to 1963. ^[1]

Based on the Maigret stories of Georges Simenon, the series starred Rupert Davies in the title role.

Unlike most BBC series produced in the 1960s, all episodes (bar the pilot) have survived intact, and are available as a complete set on DVD and Blu-ray.

In 2022 the series was broadcast by UK television channel Talking Pictures TV.

The series was written by a set of ten writers, each contributing individual episodes; the most prolific being Giles Cooper, credited with nineteen episodes, and Roger East, with twelve.

Directing was similarly shared by sixteen directors, with Gerard Glaister and Terence Williams responsible for eight each, Andrew Osborn seven, and Eric Tayler six. Each episode was shot in black-and-white and lasted 50 minutes, and (as it was made for the BBC) was intended to be screened without commercial breaks. It was shot mainly in studio, though many of the exteriors were filmed on location in Paris. Interior set designer Eileen Diss spent months scouring France for French items to be used on set, including furniture, ornaments, posters, and cigarette packets; she noted in a 1961 interview that, "Half these things may never be in sharp focus on the screen. But when in a close-up you see a terribly French door-knob behind someone's left ear, it does make just that much extra difference."^[6]

Series costar Ewen Solon broke his leg in a stunt while jumping from a wall. Subsequent scripts had to be rewritten to account for the obvious damage which could not be hidden or shot around.^[7]

Theme music and various incidental music was composed by Ron Grainer^[8] for which he won an Ivor Novello award.^[8] Apart from the pilot, all 52 episodes remain within the BBC's archives.^[9]

On Sunday, February 9, 1969, BBC One London aired Maigret at Bay as part of its series BBC Play of the Month.^[10] This feature-length movie was based on the 1964 novel Maigret Defends Himself (Maigret se défend), and featured Rupert Davies, Helen Shingler, and Neville Jason reprising their series roles of Commissaire Maigret, Madame Maigret, and Lapointe, respectively.^[11]

(with dates of first broadcast on BBC TV)

In May 2021, Network Distributing announced the Blu-Ray release of the series (to be released August 2021), with a DVD release soon to follow.^[14]

The DVD set of 14 discs does not include the booklet found in the Blu-Ray edition. Sleeve notes inform that the series has been "remastered from original film elements", most likely meaning Kinescope films as distributed world-wide, "original fullscreen TV format".

In 2023, Kino Lorber released the series on Blu-Ray for Region A.^[15]