MAIGRET ON PBS MASTERPIECE starts October 5

MAIGRET STARTS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5 on Masterpiece Mystery! Scroll to watch the trailer, and scroll down for a short history of Maigret on TV and film.

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Writer Patrick Harbinson  has taken the Georges Simenon detective stories and updated them into a contemporary show starring Benjamin Wainwright as the detective Jules Maigret. The Maigret novels are the second best-selling detective series ever, behind only Sherlock Holmes and this is the first modern-day adaptation for the screen.

Maigret inhabits a vividly realized Paris that takes us from the glitzy upper-class world of luxury hotels and mansions to local bourgeois bistros and bars and the underground haunts of the professionally criminal. “To understand and not to judge”: Maigret strives above all to unravel  motivations. He is good at this not because he is a genius, or has special methods, but because he listens – he doesn’t solve crimes so much as he solves people. 

Patrick Harbinson's adaptation reframes Maigret as an unconventional young detective with something to prove, a rising star in the Police Judiciare, relentless in his investigations, with an uncanny ability to get under the skin of the criminals he is chasing and a matchless knowledge of Paris and its inhabitants. 

You still have time to read a few Simeon Maigret mysteries before the premiere. They are short and easy to read. And, there are 75 novels and 28 short stories, so lots to read.

FYI: There have been over 35 actors that have played Maigret. French film adaptations began in 1932, but Jean Gabin was the first 'well-known' French actor playing the role in 1958, 59, and 63. French actors Jean Richard and Bruno Cremer followed with Jean Richard appearing in 90 episodes.

On British TV, Rupert Davies starred in the role in the 1960s (more than 50 episodes). In the early 1990s, Michael Gambon solved 12 crimes. I loved this series, and I thought Gambon was the perfect Maigret. But, the first actor in the Uk to play Maigret was Charles Laughton in the 1949 film The Man on the Eiffel Tower. I think the most recent Maigret series on TV starred Rowan Atkins in 2016 and 2017. Several of these series are streaming. 

Here's the trailer for the new series on Masterpiece. 

MAIGRET: New TV series on PBS

MASTERPIECE on PBS has announced that Maigret, a contemporary series, will premiere on Sunday, October 5, 2025 at 9/8c on PBS. The first trailer for the brand-new series has been released in conjunction with the news. Scroll to watch the trailer, and scroll down for a short history of Maigret on TV and film.

Writer and EP Patrick Harbinson  has taken the Georges Simenon detective stories and updated them into a contemporary show starring Benjamin Wainwright as the detective Jules Maigret. The Maigret novels are the second best-selling detective series ever, behind only Sherlock Holmes and this is the first modern-day adaptation for the screen.

Maigret inhabits a vividly realized Paris that takes us from the glitzy upper-class world of luxury hotels and mansions to local bourgeois bistros and bars and the underground haunts of the professionally criminal. “To understand and not to judge”: Maigret strives above all to unravel  motivations. He is good at this not because he is a genius, or has special methods, but because he listens – he doesn’t solve crimes so much as he solves people. 

Patrick Harbinson's adaptation reframes Maigret as an unconventional young detective with something to prove, a rising star in the Police Judiciare, relentless in his investigations, with an uncanny ability to get under the skin of the criminals he is chasing and a matchless knowledge of Paris and its inhabitants. 

I haven't seen the series yet, but my main question is where is Madame Maigret? She is one of my favorite characters in the Simenon books. It doesn't look like she's in this new series which is about the 'young' Maigret. I guess we won't be seeing all those mouth-watering French meals. Other questions: Where is Maigret's crumpled trenchcoat, pipe, and hat? Perhaps he acquired them later in his life?

Since this series debuts in October, you have plenty of time to get reading.The Simeon Maigret mysteries are short and easy to read. And, there are 75 novels and 28 short stories, so lots to read.

FYI: There have been over 35 actors that have played Maigret. French film adaptations began in 1932, but Jean Gabin was the first 'well-known' French actor playing the role in 1958, 59, and 63. French actors Jean Richard and Bruno Cremer followed with Jean Richard appearing in 90 episodes.

On British TV, Rupert Davies starred in the role in the 1960s (more than 50 episodes). In the early 1990s, Michael Gambon solved 12 crimes. I loved this series, and I thought Gambon was the perfect Maigret. But, the first actor in the Uk to play Maigret was Charles Laughton in the 1949 film The Man on the Eiffel Tower. I think the most recent Maigret series on TV starred Rowan Atkins in 2016 and 2017. Several of these series are streaming. 

Here's the trailer for the new series on Masterpiece. 

Georges Simenon's MAIGRET: PBS MASTERPIECE NEWS & MORE

MASTERPIECE PBS is co-producing a new detective series - Maigret.

MASTERPIECE Head of Scripted Content and Executive Producer Susanne Simpson said: “Maigret will be a perfect addition to MASTERPIECE’s line up of Mystery! shows. Our partners at Playground have assembled an incredible cast and creative team, and our audience is going to love Inspector Maigret and his unique style of crime solving.” 

This is the first contemporary television adaptation of Georges Simenon’s novels about the streetwise Parisian Chief Inspector Jules Maigret. Production has started production in Budapest. Colin Callender and David Stern will executive produce for Playground, the Golden Globe and BAFTA award winning production company behind upcoming series Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light and All Creatures Great and Small, both for MASTERPIECE.

Jules Maigret will be played by Benjamin Wainwright (Belgravia: The Next Chapter, Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim), and Stefanie Martini (The Gold, Last Kingdom, Emerald City) stars as his wife Madame Louise Maigret. Patrick Harbinson (Homeland, 24, The Tower) serves as lead writer and executive producer and will direct the first two episodes of the series.

The Jules Maigret series is the second best-selling detective series ever, behind only Sherlock Holmes. 

“To understand and not to judge”: Maigret strives above all to unravel our motivations. He is good at this not because he is a genius, or has special methods, but because he listens – he doesn’t solve crimes so much as he solves people.

I'm looking forward to the new Maigret series.

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Maigret has appeared numerous times on the screen, with at least thirty-four actors assuming the role at different times. The long list of film adaptations began in 1932, two years after Maigret was created, with the release of two films. 

Some of the actors who portrayed Maigret: Michael Gabon, Rowan Atkinson, Gérard Depardieu, Bruno Cremer, and Jean Richard.

Though Simenon's books have been adapted many times for film and television, Rupert Davies's celebrated, BAFTA-winning portrayal won the approval of Simenon himself, who stated: At last, I have found the perfect Maigret! Running to 52 episodes, this complete 1960s series has been remastered in High Definition from original film elements and is featured now on MHz in its original full screen TV format. 

Read J. Madison Davis's article on The Faces of Maigret, here: 

While you're waiting for what will be a great PBS Masterpiece series have a look at some of the other portrayals of Maigret, of which many are available to stream. 

Or, start reading Simenon's mysteries. They are wonderful!

Why read the Simenon novels?  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/04/the-enduring-depth-and-genius-of-inspector-maigret-by-graeme-macrae-burnett

Penguin to reissue ALL 75 Inspector Maigret Mysteries

Penguin is reissuing, in new translations, all 75 of Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret mysteries -- some of the bleakest, and best, works ever produced in the genre.

The first two are out already, including “Pietr the Latvian,” originally published in 1930, the earliest book to feature the iconic Paris police inspector.

Simenon was very prolific; in addition to his Maigret novels, he also produced 117 romans durs, or hard novels, which Luc Sante describes in a 2007 Bookforum essay as “punishing studies of human beings driven by circumstance and personality to the ends of their tethers” -- a total of 400-plus books in all.

HT Bill Gottfried