Maigret et l'homme du banc
- Episode aired Dec 17, 1993
- 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
7.5/10
106
YOUR RATING
Louis Thouret is knifed to death in Paris, and Maigret must find out who did it.Louis Thouret is knifed to death in Paris, and Maigret must find out who did it.Louis Thouret is knifed to death in Paris, and Maigret must find out who did it.
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Samuel Le Bihan
- Jeune Inspecteur
- (as Samuel Lebihan)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Featured review
Maigret is the cat that catches the canary
Just saw this on the Talking Pictures channel (UK old films and TV). They've also just started re-running the entire 4 series of the Rupert Davies version, BBC, early 60s.
This particular episode wasn't done by the BBC, but I have read the book, though some time ago. It features a mild-mannered chap, who loses his job, and is at an age when getting another one will be tricky.
So he doesn't tell his his battleaxe wife, or grasping daughter, but still goes to work as usual, and returns on the usual train later. Then after 3 years, he gets knifed in the street, and there seem to be no clues to go on, but why was he wearing yellow shows, and a cartoon tie, his wife says he would never wear such things?
Maigret goes to his old firm, and with the help of a nearby concierge, tracks down a few of his former colleagues. One of them is his new lady friend, and another says he had a new source of money. The team find a local street criminal, who it seems had teamed up with the victim, but he's not the violent type.
They find another former workmate, who'd given the victim a canary (he's a breeder of rare types) and by tracking him, unearth a boarding house cum brothel where the henpecked hubby had rented a room. Where had the victim's money (from the street crimes) gone? How had his canary got back to the breeder who'd offered it as a gift?
Slowly (these shows don't move quickly!), Maigret works out what had happened. On the way he cracks a couple of jokes, takes his wife to the theatre (the actress is perfect in that role), chides some of his team, AND finds time to visit a young criminal he'd put in prison, taking him some home cooking!
The plot varied somewhat from the book, which had Lapointe spending long hours (days) tracking the victim's habits and haunts round certain parts of Paris, but key parts like the daughter blackmailing her dad were kept in. Another book variation is that trusty assistant Lucas, ever-present in the novels, again doesn't appear in the episode. We think it must have been a pay thing, actors getting more than a certain number of appearances in a series had to be paid more?!
This particular episode wasn't done by the BBC, but I have read the book, though some time ago. It features a mild-mannered chap, who loses his job, and is at an age when getting another one will be tricky.
So he doesn't tell his his battleaxe wife, or grasping daughter, but still goes to work as usual, and returns on the usual train later. Then after 3 years, he gets knifed in the street, and there seem to be no clues to go on, but why was he wearing yellow shows, and a cartoon tie, his wife says he would never wear such things?
Maigret goes to his old firm, and with the help of a nearby concierge, tracks down a few of his former colleagues. One of them is his new lady friend, and another says he had a new source of money. The team find a local street criminal, who it seems had teamed up with the victim, but he's not the violent type.
They find another former workmate, who'd given the victim a canary (he's a breeder of rare types) and by tracking him, unearth a boarding house cum brothel where the henpecked hubby had rented a room. Where had the victim's money (from the street crimes) gone? How had his canary got back to the breeder who'd offered it as a gift?
Slowly (these shows don't move quickly!), Maigret works out what had happened. On the way he cracks a couple of jokes, takes his wife to the theatre (the actress is perfect in that role), chides some of his team, AND finds time to visit a young criminal he'd put in prison, taking him some home cooking!
The plot varied somewhat from the book, which had Lapointe spending long hours (days) tracking the victim's habits and haunts round certain parts of Paris, but key parts like the daughter blackmailing her dad were kept in. Another book variation is that trusty assistant Lucas, ever-present in the novels, again doesn't appear in the episode. We think it must have been a pay thing, actors getting more than a certain number of appearances in a series had to be paid more?!
- Tony-Holmes
- Apr 27, 2023
- Permalink
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