TV Worth Watching is a new series highlighting my favorite television viewing. I am a big fan of UK television, so you are sure to see many UK shows and movies featured here. — Douglas
TV Worth Watching: Zen
Let’s see…mystery series? Check! Italian characters? Check! Shot on location in Italy? Check. BBC Production? Check! (LAUGH) Zen hits all my markers of TV Worth Watching. Based on a series of novels by British author, Michael Dibdin, they are taut, exciting and deep mysteries. As with most of the shows I highlight, the acting is top notch as are the writing and the production. Another thing that often happens with series like this and Commissario Montalbano is that I end up reading the novels on which the productions are based. As with most adaptations, there is usually a lot more depth and character development in the novels and this leads to an even deeper enjoyment of the television productions.
From Masterpiece on PBS.org…
Watch Zen Preview on PBS. See more from Masterpiece.
What does an honest cop do when his bosses are on the side of the lawbreakers? Outwitting prosecutors, politicians, mobsters and run-of-the-mill kidnappers and killers, Detective Aurelio Zen brings justice to modern-day Italy, whether the authorities want it or not, on Zen, a trio of spellbinding cases based on the bestselling novels of by British crime writer Michael Dibdin, airing on Masterpiece July 17-31, 2011.
Rufus Sewell (Middlemarch) stars as Zen, a Roman police detective hailing from Venice, where “Zen” is a local shortening of the name Zeno. Separated from his wife and living with his mother, he is too frazzled by his job to think about romance. That is, until he meets Tania Moretti (Caterina Murino), his chief’s new secretary.
More information on Zen:
Where to watch:
Previously on TV Worth Watching…