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| Back within Italy's atmospheric streets, Luca Zingaretti returns as INSPECTOR MONTALBANO. Image: RAI TELEVISION |
Vigáta’s finest detective, the sharp suited and amiable Inspector Montalbano, continues his new to the UK run of sophisticated and filmily glossy adventures on the BBC 4 channel every Saturday evening, yet again a critical and audience success, and a welcome tonic to the gloom of summer nights starting to draw in to the subtlety’s of Autumn.
Continuing its adaptations based on the book series created by Andrea Camilleri, this new season has so far shown a lot more drama and a bit of action for our hero, nicely played by Luca Zingaretti, who brings vulnerability and likeable warmth to the part-and a very real human quality- alongside his skills as a top TV ‘tec. The cases remain as luxurious and occasionally complex as before, charmingly mixing light humour and drama, of which the shows incidental music atmospherically highlights its contrasting natures. The cast of characters also remains interesting and diverse (and let’s not forget the way in which, each episode, there’s always the obligatory and desirable beautiful femme fatale managing to cross paths with Montalbano (who still, amazingly, manages to stay faithful to his often frustrated partner, Livia (the equally lovely Katharina Bohm)!). An individual beauty in it’s own right is the shows picturesque settings: it’s rolling hills and countryside, alongside the stunning and lavish architecture of ancient and modern Sicily. (Oh, how our beloved Inspector Morse would have loved it there!) It’s all so sumptuous you immediately want to go online and book a holiday there!
Salvo Montalbano is once more backed up with his reliable team of policeman, including sometimes rival, and friend, the always women troubled Mimi (Cesare Bocci), and the bumbling but likable street cop Catarella (Angelo Russo) who, despite his tense, sometimes hyper, and seemingly bewildered emotional states that often provide pure comedy gold, has been proving his worth to his colleagues and superiors.
Titled Turning Point, the first new episode saw our hero as a bit of a tormented soul, ready to quit his job in disgust at the corruption of his superior officers, but soon realizing just how much he needs the job, and vice versa, when he busts an horrific Tunisian child slavery ring. Having kept a relatively low profile in Season One, the second story, Equal Time, saw the Sicilian Mafia come to the fore for a tense run-in for Montalbano, and the possibility of gang war rivalries flaring up. As this well-made and enjoyable run continues, we’re looking forward to future episodes even more…
Season One of INSPECTOR MONTALBANO is available on UK DVD: Inspector Montalbano: Series One (5 Disc DVD): Amazon.co.uk: Film & TV
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