Critical Condition: Maigret’s Night at the Crossroads

Maigret’s Night at the Crossroads | TVNZ 1, 8.30 Sunday

➢ “Rowan Atkinson’s third outing as the Parisian policeman, and easily his best yet. He is growing into the role — though not physically, because the actor is too slight to fill the gabardine raincoat of previous Maigrets such as Michael Gambon or Rupert Davies. Atkinson conveys a different sort of weight, as if he is loaded down with sadness. He moves with a stolid sway, unhurried and obdurate like a man who has seen it all many times as he tramps the city streets.” — Daily Mail.

➢ “Coming across like Walter Matthau restraining his comedy chops to play Gordon Brown, Rowan Atkinson returns as the French detective. His latest case, which revolves around the murder of a diamond dealer, seems clear enough: the scarred Danish gun enthusiast in the rundown mansion dunnit. Except nothing is ever that simple. A crime drama that’s cleverly plotted but, as with the first series, a little dour.” — The Guardian.

➢ “Atkinson, after all those years forcing you to watch him, is now playing a watcher. Watching him pull it off – against an impeccably lit, deftly designed backdrop – is not an unpleasant way of passing an evening. The character work is largely confined to the enquiring angle of his signature meerschaum, the cogitative hang of his overcoat. He did slightly raise his voice in this one, and one’s pulse rose to a gentle trot.” — The Arts Desk.