Maigret travels Europe, NZ

Rowan Atkinson as Maigret in ITV’s adaptation

UK commercial broadcaster ITV’s detective drama Maigret has been sold to broadcasters across Europe and in New Zealand by distributor BBC Worldwide.

The first two episodes of ITV’s recent revival of the Parisian detective series, Maigret Sets a Trap and Maigret’s Dead Man (both 2×90′), star Rowan Atkinson as Jules Maigret.

BBC Worldwide has secured deals with Channel One in Russia, NRK in Norway, TVNZ in New Zealand, RTÉ in Ireland, Finland’s YLE and Prima TV in the Czech Republic.

Previous buyers include France 3, ARD in Germany and TV4 in Sweden.

A further two instalments of the show, based on the novels by George Simenon, were commissioned by ITV earlier this week.