New Deals for Maigret

LONDON: BBC Worldwide has secured several new broadcast slots for Maigret Sets a Trap and Maigret’s Dead Man, the specials starring Rowan Atkinson as the French fictional detective.

The two Maigret films have sold to more than 45 territories. The news comes following ITV’s announcement earlier this week that it has commissioned two additional specials with Atkinson in the lead. New broadcasters on board include Channel One in Russia, NRK in Norway, New Zealand’s TVNZ, RTE in Ireland, YLE in Finland and Prima TV in the Czech Republic.

BBC Worldwide had previously announced deals on the 2×90-minute specials in France (France 3), Germany (ARD), Sweden (TV4) and Denmark (DR). BBC First is airing the dramas in Australia, Benelux, pan-Middle East and Africa.

“Maigret has all the components for an international hit; classic engaging stories, great casting, atmospheric and filmic,” said Liam Keelan, the director of scripted for BBC Worldwide. “Audiences everywhere will be swept along in these gripping crimes stories set in 1950s Paris.”

Maigret Sets a Trap has already aired on ITV and Maigret’s Dead Man is set for British transmission later this year. The new commissions are Night at the Crossroads and Maigret in Montmartre. They are based on the novels by George Simenon.