Media Centre

BBC Worldwide has announced pre-sales of Maigret to French public television channel - France 3, German public broadcaster ARD, Swedish broadcaster TV4 and Denmark’s DR ahead of its launch to market at BBC Worldwide Showcase (22 – 24 February 2016).

The deals mark BBC Worldwide’s first international sales of the 2 x 120’ dramatic films, Maigret Sets A Trap and Maigret’s Dead Man, featuring the legendary French fictional detective Jules Maigret, played by Rowan Atkinson.

Tobi de Graaff, Executive Vice President of Western Europe at BBC Worldwide: “The Maigret novels are some of the most classic detective stories of their time, and we’re delighted to be bringing one of the best-known characters in world literature, along with one of the greatest international stars, to viewers worldwide.”

Set in Paris in the 1950’s, Rowan Atkinson, who is best known for portraying iconic characters such as Johnny English, Blackadder and Mr Bean, will play the dramatic role of Jules Maigret, the magnificently measured and insightful French detective. Georges Simenon, who wrote 75 Maigret novels, is considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century –selling around a billion books worldwide to date.

Maigret is written by Stewart Harcourt (Love & Marriage, Treasure Island, Marple) and produced by Jeremy Gwilt (Undeniable, Foyle’s War, Torn, Home Fires).  The Executive Producers are Barnaby Thompson (Easy Virtue, Dorian Gray, St. Trinians) and Ben Latham-Jones (Nina, D Train, Midsummer Nights Dream) for Ealing Studios, John Simenon and Paul Aggett for Maigret Productions, and Stewart Harcourt. It has been commissioned by ITV.

BBC Worldwide is the international partner for Maigret and will oversee the global rights for the series in all territories outside the UK. 

For more information, please contact:

Kayley Rogers

Communications Officer, CEMA, BBC Worldwide

020 8433 1247

kayley.rogers@bbc.com  

NOTES TO EDITORS

About BBC Worldwide. BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).  Its vision is to build the BBC’s brands, audiences, commercial returns and reputation across the world.  This is achieved through investing in, commercialising and showcasing content from the BBC around the world, in a way that is consistent with BBC standards and values.  The business also champions British creativity globally.

In 2014/15, BBC Worldwide generated headline profits of £138.6m and headline sales of £1,001.8m and returned a record £226.5m to the BBC. For more detailed performance information please see our Annual Review website:

http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview

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