Zen - BBC1

Did anybody else watch the opening story of the BBC's new adaptation of the best-selling mystery novels by Michael Dibdin featuring Aurelio Zen, the only honest detective in Rome (possibly the entirety of Italy)!

Personally, I loved it. Leisurely pace, subtly witty script, positively outstanding cinematography of Rome and the Italian countryside, titles and theme music that more than successfully harked back to those ITC classics.

Casting-wise, Rufus Sewell, is pitch perfect in the title-role. quietly Intelligent, endearingly shy and wry, and an obvious man of integrity.

While the absolutely stunning Caterina Murino, (just as breath-takingly beautiful now as she was in Casino Royal), as police secretary and love interest for Zen Tania Moretti, has instant chemistry and charming with Sewell.

At a rumoured 3 million pounds per episode, every penny is up there on the screen. I only wish I had HD - because this just has to look fabulous in High Definition.

If you didn't watch it - try and catch it on IPlayer. Or at the very least catch the next episode. I know I will be.

Interesting (and good) news to hear that Rufus Sewell is back at work. Up until sometime in 2009, he'd been appearing on ABC over here in an American adaptation of "The Eleventh Hour" that I really liked. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much faith ABC had in the series, as they kept shuffling it around their schedule.

For a while, it was conveniently placed on Thursday nights, after CSI. But they moved it, and then moved a second time,, and that eventually killed its ratings.

Zen sounds like an excellent way to modify the detective/mystery genre: you've had Sherlock in modern times, why not in antiquity, too?

Patrick wrote:Zen sounds like an excellent way to modify the detective/mystery genre: you've had Sherlock in modern times, why not in antiquity, too?

Sorry, Patrick, I obviously slipped up and failed to make it clear that the series is set in present day Italy, rather than classical Rome.

But I suspect that you'll be able to see it for yourself soon enough. WGBH Boston are one of the (many) prodction partners the Beeb have on this one.

Which means it will no doubt premiere on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery before too long. I will make a point of watching for it.

Any indication of how many episodes this series has?

Patrick wrote:Which means it will no doubt premiere on PBS' Masterpiece Mystery before too long. I will make a point of watching for it.

Any indication of how many episodes this series has?

Masterpiece Mystery sound about right to me. There's three feature length episodes - which seems to be the Beeb's preferred number for this type of "Prestige" drama.

Definitely keep an eye open for it.

Well, following the dire Primeval last night it was a pleasure to watch something that was even better than its opening episode. True, the mystery isn't particularly difficult - but that hardly matters when you have the potent combination of a witty script, charming performances and a hero who is genuinely likeable and refreshingly angst-free.

Roll on next week's episode.

Well, this short but immensely enjoyable series bowed out tonight as witty and stylishly as it arrived. I really hope we're going to have the pleasure of welcoming back Rome's most honest and likeable detective next year.

"by the way, we shagged on your desk"

Yep, most definitely my "TV Line of the Week". Beautifully delivered it was too.