Atkinson as the deep thinking, far seeing, famous, obsessive pipe-smoking detective was
finely drawn and beautifully played.
Maigret investigates the random murders of a countess and a showgirl and discovers a dark secret that links their past lives at the Grand Hotel in Nice.
There was a deep dark, filthy physical edge, to this episode which created the low, nasty surroundings for its characters.
A night club stripper calling herself Arlette arrives at the police station shaking with terror saying she has overhead a man in a hat saying he is going to kill "the countess".
Next morning both Arlette and the countess are found dead.
We'd seen the morphine-raddled countess earlier slumped in a gilt chair in her peeling, tattered apartment, her tiara sliding down her cheek as her friend, an evil little swarthy rent-boy, was dashing down to the narrow alleys to score taking the tiara with him.
Maigret heads into the sordid world of Montmartre's dancing girl clubs.
This story is not really about the murder, it's about Paris' sleazy underbelly. Here men salivate over women who feel they have no other choice. In a world where sexual assaults are the headlines.
Moral squalor is uppermost and you can practically smell those ancient, revolting Parisian drains as well.
Maigret was forced to spend time at the debauched, disgusting club where Arlette had worked. He had somehow managed to maintain a quiet demeanour among the goings-on. In fact two of the girls were mystified that Maigret wasn't displaying any lecherous tendencies.
"Married?' one asked him.
"Yes. Contentedly,'' Maigret replied.
This first episode bodes brilliantly for a few weeks of contented watching ahead.
Classy filming, acting, a script which is actually conversational - it's a top class act this series.
