Year: 1993
Movie / TV: Maigret - Maigret's Boyhood Friend
Director: John Strickland
Others in the Cast: Michael Gambon, Geoffrey Hutchings, Jack Galloway, James Larkin, Barbara Flynn, Betty Marsden, Alan David, Peter Blythe, Peter-Hugo Daly, Kenneth Haigh
Plot summary: Leon Florentin, an old school acquaintance of Maigret, shows up at the detective's home asking for help in the shooting death of his mistress. Maigret has only obvious distaste for the unkempt, disheveled Leon, who has survived since boyhood by sponging, lying, and conning his way through life. Although the dead woman allowed him to live with her rent free, her busy social life included four other lovers, all of whom were unaware of the other's existence. When they were scheduled to arrive, Leon would discreetly leave the apartment, but if they arrived unexpectedly, he would perversely hide in the wardrobe. The plot becomes even more complicated when Maigret finds out that Leon was in the wardrobe when the murder was allegedly committed. - IMDB
A longer summary here from Allreaders
Peth’s role: Léon Florentin
Reviews:
A worthless character turns up at Maigret's apartment, claiming to be an old friend. Maigret, who went to school with this man but never liked him, agrees to help save him from a murder charge.
It was a surprise to find the normally elegant and upper-crust Edward Petherbridge (an impersonator of Lord Peter Wimsey and a classical actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company) turning up in this episode as a shabby, down-at-heel failure who may or may not have murdered a prostitute. The deceased lady turns out to have several rather more affluent admirers and Maigret must sift through a succession of confliciting stories to find out who killed her. His genial contempt for the shameless scrounger who went to school with him and insists that they were friends is well conveyed by Gambon and his rather sharper attitude towards the rich and "respectable" types who also used the dead woman has the right touch of understated anger. - TV.com
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IMDB page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0639867/
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