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Production

The series was written by a set of ten writers, each contributing individual episodes; the most prolific being Giles Cooper, credited with nineteen episodes, and Roger East, with twelve.

Directing was similarly shared by sixteen directors, with Gerard Glaister and Terence Williams responsible for eight each, Andrew Osborn seven, and Eric Tayler six.

Each episode was shot in black-and-white and lasted 50 minutes, and (as it was made for the BBC) was intended to be screened without commercial breaks. It was shot mainly in studio, though many of the exteriors were filmed on location in Paris. Interior set designer Eileen Diss spent months scouring France for French items to be used on set, including furniture, ornaments, posters, and cigarette packets; she noted in a 1961 interview that, "Half these things may never be in sharp focus on the screen. But when in a close-up you see a terribly French door-knob behind someone's left ear, it does make just that much extra difference."

Series costar Ewen Solon broke his leg in a stunt while jumping from a wall. Subsequent scripts had to be rewritten to account for the obvious damage which could not be hidden or shot around.

Theme music and various incidental music was composed by Ron Grainer for which he won an Ivor Novello award. Furthermore, Rupert Davies won the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in 1962, while Eileen Diss won the British Academy Television Award for Best Design in 1963. Apart from the pilot, all 52 episodes remain within the BBC's archives.

Davies would reprise the role of Maigret in introductions to each episode of the first series of the 1964 crime anthology series Detective.

On Sunday, 9 February 1969, BBC One London aired Maigret at Bay as part of its series BBC Play of the Month. This feature-length movie was based on the 1964 novel Maigret Defends Himself (Maigret se défend), and featured Rupert Davies, Helen Shingler, and Neville Jason reprising their series roles of Commissaire Maigret, Madame Maigret, and Lapointe, respectively.

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