The prolific author Georges Simenon, in the years between 1931 and 1972, published 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Jules Maigret, a police officer working in Paris in the mid-twentieth century.

In some ways the stories resemble Columbo in that the focus is not on providing a surprise ending. In many stories, like Columbo, Maigret strongly suspects who the criminal is early on and sets about finding ways to get evidence against him. Like Columbo, he prefers not to use his first name and is referred to as just Maigret, even by his wife. Like Columbo, he is said to be happily married with no children. But unlike with Columbo, his wife does appear in the stories in a supportive and empathetic role. Also unlike Columbo who works alone and seems to be given a free hand by his superiors, Maigret has a team of assistants to aid him but is often interfered with by his superiors for political reasons.

Maigret is a middle-aged man who smokes a pipe and is soft-spoken, contemplative, and measured in his utterances. He is extremely low key and in solving cases, he uses psychology to to get in the mind of the victim and the criminal, trying to figure out the reasons behind their actions. He is kind, empathetic, and a good listener and is known to be highly ethical and thus respected even by the criminal classes.

The Simenon stories were immensely popular and are so even now, similar to Sherlock Holmes, and have been adapted for radio, TV, and films many times. I recently came across this new production and was startled to see that they had Rowan Atkinson in the title role. This is definitely out-of-the-box casting. It would never have occurred to me to think of him for this role. Atkinson is a fine comedian, known among other things for Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line, the sketch comedy series Not the Nine O’Clock News, and the James Bond parody films where he plays the bumbling spy Johnny English. His on-screen persona, especially in the first two, makes sardonic remarks in a deadpan manner.

As I watched the first episode of Maigret, for the first fifteen minutes or so as I watched Atkinson, I almost expected him to say something sarcastic and funny. But as it went on, I got used to him in this new serious role and I must say I was impressed that he was able to pull it off.

There are just four 90-minutes stories in this series. Here is the trailer for the first one.