Saw this on the Talking Pictures channel (UK, old films and TV). They had previously shown the 1960s series (50+ episodes, BBC, B&W) featuring Rupert Davies, a generally acclaimed Maigret.
We've also seen the excellent 12 episodes (2 series) that ITV did (90s) with Michael Gambon as Maigret (terrific portrayal) and the less successful later efforts with Rowan Atkinson in the lead.
This Cremer version is of course French, with subtitles, but they are not too wordy, so fairly easy to follow. Also very French, lots of atmosphere, meaningful looks, thoughtful silences.
I see some reviews refer to how faithful this version is to the books, a ludicrous statement in one respect, as Lucas, his main assistant in all the books I've seen, has almost completely disappeared!
I haven't liked all the episodes so far of this Cremer version, but some have been great. THIS one however is really disappointing, it gets off to a ludicrous start, Maigret is on a train, travelling to meet his wife, but supposedly gets fascinated by a passenger (we see no real evidence), so much so that when the man jumps off the moving train, so does our hero, LEAVING BEHIND his belongings including papers and money?! As if cool calm and collected Maigret would do such a thing?!
He twists an ankle, ends up in the hospital of the small town in the title, and he then gets sucked into a murder mystery that's been causing a scandal, with attacks on women dating back several years.
The reviews by orebaugh and whalen as usual describe the events very well, and like me are baffled why the producers decided to radically change the plot in the book? This episode was in the old BBC (Rupert Davies) series, and they did a much better job with this story, told in just an hour too!!
Maigret digs back into the past (that concept was in the book), and finds a likely motive concerning the 4 key people in the small town, doctor, lawyer, police chief and mayor. Then the estranged wife of one of them becomes another victim, just when she was about to reveal some secret to him.
Any casual viewers of this episode should beware a scene in which we get to see graphic details of the porn collection that one of the suspects keeps in his attic. I hope the series gets back on track with the next one!