Maigret

Maigret is a 1988 television film starring Richard Harris as Georges Simenon's detective, Jules Maigret. The film was intended as a pilot for a potential television series. Production While unhappily working on Archer, a television series adaptation of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer stories, writer Arthur Weingarten began thinking about doing a mystery series with a different concept. The studio was uninterested but Weingarten decided to pursue the rights to the character himself. Friendship with Graham Greene got Weingarten an introduction to Georges Simenon. Weingarten locked down American rights but spent five years gathering rights in other countries to attain worldwide rights to the character. He then approached every American network about creating a Maigret series with no success until CBS agreed with the stipulation that he cast an international star. Richard Burton was the first approached and he was keen but two weeks before filming was to commence he dropped out to do Private Lives on Broadway. Alec Guinness was next approached but he declined. Weingarten spent a year negotiating with George C. Scott, but Scott eventually pulled out and with him went CBS. At this stage, Columbia Pictures Television agreed but Weingarten still needed a Maigret. After viewing A Man Called Horse one evening, he decided to approach Richard Harris. Although Harris didn't physically fit the role, he was up for the challenge as a fan of the character.