"Maigret" The Burglar's Wife (TV Episode 1960) Poster

(TV Series)

(1960)

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6/10
The Burglar's Wife
Prismark1023 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The story starts off with a burglar finding a corpse of a woman. He then flees and goes into hiding.

It is the burglar's wife who contacts Maigret and tells him what her husband discovered.

The house is owned by dentist Guillaume who tells Maigret that his wife is away. The dentist has a domineering mother and a safe with lots of gold.

Maigret also needs to be away. He has booked a holiday.

Only he needs to crack this case and there is no body. Guillaume has been unlucky, his previous wife suddenly died as well. He is a man who knows about medicine.

Maigret uses cunning when he interrogates Guillaume at the police station. His mother is also in the waiting room and he gets the burglar's wife to tell her all the sordid things Maigret does when interrogating suspects. It's not pretty.

To get the culprit Maigret also places Guillaume in jeopardy.

This is a more studio bound affair with less location issue.
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9/10
Sad Freddie finds a body - but where did it go?
Tony-Holmes2 May 2023
Saw this on the Talking Pictures channel (UK, old films and TV shows) - they ran this old (60s) BBC series of Maigret through 2022. I'd likely seen it back when it first aired, but hard to remember!

An old acquaintance of Maigret turns up and says her burglar hubby (well known to police, Sad Freddie) had found a body when about to crack a safe, at a dentist's place in the suburbs. Despite being due to go on holiday, and with Mme Maigret keen to avoid yet another missed or ruined vacation, he goes to see the family in question.

Their window had been repaired (the burglar's usual way in) and the dentist's wife had left him, 2 nights ago, to return to Holland. They deny any odd happenings, and the window had broken in a storm, but Maigret finds the ironmonger, and discovers that a 2nd pane of glass had been bought. Could that have been to repair the burglar's breakage - and why hadn't it been reported?

The dentist and the mother may come from a respected family, but they are clearly hiding something. Plus the burglar may be a criminal, but Maigret quite likes him, and thinks his story must have some basis. He questions the dentist back at the office, and tricks the mother (in the waiting room) by using the burglar's wife to talk about life in prison, and gain her confidence, gaining a vital clue about the dentist's father.

The 90s version with Gambon as Maigret did this same show, but slightly differently, used a housekeeper to reveal a key bit of info. This one however just has Maigret getting under their skin, to reveal more of what might have happened. The dentist's car is discovered (he says stolen) but it didn't go far, and contains a key clue!

Maigret is sure the wife was murdered, and by poison (she had a weak heart), but was it the dentist, or his mother - or both? After a long night, the problem is solved, and his holiday is saved! Hugh Burden played the dentist, later in the 60s he starred in The Mind of JG Reeder, an early set of detective stories, solved by logic and immense general knowledge. Oddly, he was the guest star in a later Maigret, also with a missing wife as I recall??!
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