Inspector Montalbano

[kernelbogey]

I recommend this series showing on Saturday nights on BBC4 to all lovers of Italy, Italian food and subtitled European cop films. This one is low on violence and high on good scenery, charm and wit.

First episode is on iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01c6dsd/Inspector_Montalbano_Series_1_The_Snack_Thief/

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

.... hmmm i have watched the earlier series and this first programme of the current series and remain to be convinced .... it is pleasant and has charm but lacks any real substance?

[Nick Armstrong]

I recommend this series showing on Saturday nights on BBC4 to all lovers of Italy, Italian food and subtitled European cop films.

I satisfy the criteria but found this very disappointing, and I didn't stay the course - nothing about the characters engaged me.

[DracoM]

Me too. Not in the same arm of the galaxy as the true Nordic grit.

[kernelbogey]

I'm prejudiced by having read the novels by Andrea Camilleri on which it's based - guess that gives me a more rounded view of the characters. (Though I agree that all but Montalbano are lightly sketched.)

[Curalach]

I too have read some of the novels and have enjoyed them as light relief from Nordic angst!
I didn't see the programme as we were at a concert on Saturday night so I am disappointed to read the comments here. Our broadband connection doesn't cope too well with iPlayer so I'll give that a miss.
Last year, I thought that the Zen series was very well done and think it a pity that they decided not to commission further episodes.

[eighthobstruction]

Greek TV should rush a TV detective quickly to the screens....surely the only good thing about this programme is it's tourist potential....or perhaps a Greek Vet

[kernelbogey]

Glad you also like the Camilleri novels, Curalach! I didn't like Zen... the combination of Italian characters and English dialogue was too jarring for me. Also - as you'll see on tv - Italians talk with their hands all the time and this was missing in the Zen series.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

yeh but Zen is essentially an English set of novels ...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

.... hmmm i have watched the earlier series and this first programme of the current series and remain to be convinced .... it is pleasant and has charm but lacks any real substance?

According to the Radio Times, what we saw on Saturday was the very first series from 1999 - pre-dating the later episodes shown last year. (Which leaves a few questions, as I don't remember the "adopted son" or marriage from the later episodes?)

I enjoyed it: the "substance" was the pleasant "charm and wit". Not nearly as good as The Killing, but thoroughly watchable in its own terms.

[kernelbogey]

I missed those later episodes. I've read most of the books that have been translated into English, and I don't think poor Livia ever gets her man to commit. (She doesn't help by continuing to live in Genoa while he lives and works in Sicily.) This is one of the running gags of the books. And like Wallander, Montalbano vows to give up being a policeman periodically, but of course never does.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

the "substance" was the pleasant "charm and wit

...yep light but tasty ....

i must say i thought Zen was great, Dibden wrote comic masterpieces, or nearly, and they televised very well; and as i recall the leading lady and the architecture rivalled the landscapes ...

[Norfolk Born]

Greek TV should rush a TV detective quickly to the screens....surely the only good thing about this programme is it's tourist potential....or perhaps a Greek Vet

Inspector Papadopolous and the Case of the Missing Marbles
followed perhaps by Inspector Papadopolous and Case of the Missing Tax Millions

[Nick Armstrong]

...yep light but tasty ....

i must say i thought Zen was great, Dibden wrote comic masterpieces, or nearly, and they televised very well; and as i recall the leading lady and the architecture rivalled the landscapes ...

Another 'Zen' fan here! R Sewell and the production were magnificent, as well as the above. Very sad that it was spiked. Mind you they spiked the new 'Upstairs Downstairs' but I see it's been restored to life this weekend (doubtless as a response to Downtonmania... :erm )

[eighthobstruction]

Inspector Papadopolous and the Case of the Missing Marbles
followed perhaps by Inspector Papadopolous and Case of the Missing Tax Millions

unfortunately Inspector Papadopolous retired at 45 hence never acquired the eccentricities and quirks of a mature age needed for an adequate serious TV detective, he now runs a Coffee Bar in Mönchengladbach....