"How would you like a fantastic opportunity to get out of your comfort zone as an actor?" Of course I wasn't there, but this easily might have been what Rowan Atkinson's agent said to him when the role of Inspector Maigret presented itself. Atkinson is immortal thanks to his famous comedy/slapstick roles (like "Blackadder", "Johnny English" and especially "Mr. Bean") so it's quite an impressive and risky undertaking to take up the role of a dead- serious, stoic and intelligent French police detective. Perhaps it's because I personally don't have any issues with separating actors/actresses from their typecast roles, or perhaps it's simply because Rowan Atkinson is such a terrific and professional performer, but all throughout "Maigret Sets a Trap" you never once get the impression that he's miscast. You immediately accept Atkinson as Maigret and never associate his appearance here with the idiotic facial expressions of Mr. Bean. Hats off to you, Mr. Atkinson, you are a phenomenal actor. Evidently, people who're familiar with "Blackadder" knew this already for years… With regards to "Maigret Sets a Trap", be careful to set your expectations. It's a straightforward and compelling whodunit thriller with a solid screenplay and tense atmosphere, but it most certainly has its limitations in terms of spectacle. Bear in mind it's a TV- thriller and that the story is more than 60 years old already. That means there aren't any CGI-techniques used in the murder investigation and the character of Inspector Maigret certainly also isn't a super- detective like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot. He's a bright man, but he also makes mistakes, doubts himself and takes unnecessary risks. During the 1950s in Montmartre, a community close to Paris, Maigret and his team are confronted with a serial killer who already murdered four girls in the narrow streets during the night. Comparisons with Jack the Ripper from London are quickly made and Maigret is under a lot of pressure since there hasn't been any progress in six months. When he finds out more about the psychology and profiling of serial killers, Maigret decides to provoke the culprit via the media and set a trap to apprehend him. The plan works and Maigret arrests his suspect, but is this man really guilty? "Maigret Sets a Trap" doesn't feature any wild car chases, steamy sex sequences, virulent shoot-outs or nasty make- up effects, but it's a respectful new adaptation of a classic suspense novel. The re-creation of the 50s in Paris is particularly well-handled, with beautiful decors, costumes and cars. Atkinson is great and receives excellent support from a dozen of adequate players.

So, let's get to the most interesting part of the show. It's "set" in France, with ALL English actors NEVER speaking any French, butchering the language, and in some cases, their own names. They waddle around the sets as though they are "French" or what an Englishman would assume a Frenchman should act like. It's like watching the French scene from a Monty Python sketch except with no humor.I keep expecting Rowan Atkinson to start talking like the Blackadder. Instead, he plods through the scenes which drag slower than a dead body through mud. The only good thing to do with this "show" is to ignore it. Just let it go. It makes no sense. I wanted so much to leap through the screen and strangle any of the actors the minute they pretend to be "French" and just say French names very very very very very very badly.Just don't waste your time. Watch the Blackadder and be done with it. You won't come away with such a poor opinion of Rowan Atkinson for even trying this "serious" role. He could have done so much better.Nothing, and I mean, nothing in this godsforsaken awful series makes ANY sense. Maybe if they had Rowan Atkinson reading the books in funny voices it would have been at least watchable. This, well, this is just bad.I want my time back.

I was looking forward to this movie, but I was a little disappointed when it finally arrived.I think so much effort was expended on getting the Maigretness of the whole thing right that tension and a plausible story went by the board.Really, a tired old serial killer plot? It may have been cutting edge (no pun intended) in 1955 when Georges Simenon penned the novel, but the subject has been explored endlessly from every possible angle over the decades.Set in 1950's Paris, the plot follows Rowan Atkinson's Maigret as he sets a trap for the killer of five women in Montmartre. Eventually he closes in on a suspect, but the biggest surprise is that the creators of the show were happy to go with a credulity stretching explanation for all the murders.A lot of money was obviously spent on the production and it is an arty looking number with dimly lit alleyways and shadows on walls à la "The Third Man". However the pace is glacial and makes an episode of David Suchet's "Poiret" seem like "Fast & Furious 7" When I first saw that Rowan Atkinson was playing Maigret, I thought that could work. But he actually plays Maigret in such a mannered way that he is not too far off Inspector Clouseau. Maybe just a little more of his natural style at a sprightlier pace would have been a better way to go. He just needed to change whatever was in that pipe.The film looks authentic enough even if it was filmed in Budapest, but also gives us a Paris that is about as quiet as a sleepy village in Provence. There is no bustle in this city, but I guess when you saddle yourself with a 1950's setting, the correct autos are not that easy to come by, and it has that shot on an early Sunday morning look."Maigret Sets a Trap" has to hold its own against brilliant, long-running series such as "Lewis", "Wallander" and "Vera" or the recent hit, "The Night Manager". I don't think it even gets up to speed with "Poirot" or "Miss Marple"; it's actually a bit of a snoozer. If a series is planned, and it doesn't rev up a bit, it could replace "Gardening Australia" as my preferred sleeping sedative.

When will British actors figure out how to pronounce French words that end with an "e"?It's so easy: you DO NOT pronounce the final "e". Montmartre is pronounced "Montmartr'", not Monmartreuh.In English, you don't say "what is your nameuh" or "May I borrow your phoneuh", or "I do my shopping onlineuh"Rowan Atkinson did a very good job (a bit too thin to play overweight Maigret, though). Full marks for not having his wife call him by his first name, which she never did in all Simenon's books, fact which was totally ignored in the awful Richard Harris 1988 incarnation.Ghastly loud muzak we could have done without.So please Rowan and the rest of the cast, drop the "euh" and please Mr Producer, don't bother with the silly muzak.