Zen (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Zen is a British television series produced by Left Bank Pictures
for the BBC
, co-produced with WGBH
Boston for its Masterpiece anthology series, Mediaset
and ZDF
. It stars Rufus Sewell
and Caterina Murino
and is based on the Aurelio Zen
detective novels by Michael Dibdin
. The series was filmed on location in Italy, but the dialogue is in English. The series, which comprises three 90-minute films, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sunday evenings from 2 January 2011 on BBC One
. The three films were based on the books Vendetta, Cabal and Ratking. The series was canceled by BBC One in February 2011; BBC One controller Danny Cohen later said there were already enough male crime-fighters on TV. Left Bank, the show's producer, has been in discussions with other broadcasters about continuing the series elsewhere.
Series 1 was first shown in the USA on the PBS network: Vendetta, Cabal, and RatKing on July 17, 24, and 31, 2011 respectively.
Left Bank Pictures
Left Bank Pictures is an English film and television production company. It was formed in 2007 by Andy Harries, formerly controller of drama, comedy and film at Granada Productions, and Francis Hopkinson and Marigo Kehoe...
for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, co-produced with WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
Boston for its Masterpiece anthology series, Mediaset
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A., known as Gruppo Mediaset in Italian, is an Italian-based media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country...
and ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
. It stars Rufus Sewell
Rufus Sewell
Rufus Frederik Sewell is an English actor. In film, he has appeared in The Woodlanders, Dangerous Beauty, Dark City, A Knight's Tale, The Illusionist, Tristan and Isolde, and Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. On television, he starred in the 2010 mini-series The Pillars of the Earth...
and Caterina Murino
Caterina Murino
-Biography:She was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, and initially wanted to be a doctor, but switched career paths to pageantry after twice failing the medical school entrance exams. She came fourth in the 1996 Miss Italy contest...
and is based on the Aurelio Zen
Aurelio Zen
Aurelio Zen is a fictional Italian detective created by the British crime writer Michael Dibdin.-Series:The first of the stories Ratking, won the 'Gold Dagger' award of 1988. This series of detective novels provide a penetrating insight into the less visible aspects of Italian society over the last...
detective novels by Michael Dibdin
Michael Dibdin
Michael Dibdin , was a British crime writer.-Life:Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, the son of a physicist, and was brought up from the age of seven in Lisburn, Northern Ireland where he attended Friends' School...
. The series was filmed on location in Italy, but the dialogue is in English. The series, which comprises three 90-minute films, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sunday evenings from 2 January 2011 on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. The three films were based on the books Vendetta, Cabal and Ratking. The series was canceled by BBC One in February 2011; BBC One controller Danny Cohen later said there were already enough male crime-fighters on TV. Left Bank, the show's producer, has been in discussions with other broadcasters about continuing the series elsewhere.
Cast
- Rufus SewellRufus SewellRufus Frederik Sewell is an English actor. In film, he has appeared in The Woodlanders, Dangerous Beauty, Dark City, A Knight's Tale, The Illusionist, Tristan and Isolde, and Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. On television, he starred in the 2010 mini-series The Pillars of the Earth...
as Aurelio Zen - Caterina MurinoCaterina Murino-Biography:She was born in Cagliari, Sardinia, and initially wanted to be a doctor, but switched career paths to pageantry after twice failing the medical school entrance exams. She came fourth in the 1996 Miss Italy contest...
as Tania Moretti - Julie CoxJulie CoxJulie Cox is an English-Scottish actress perhaps best known for her role as Princess Irulan in the Sci Fi Channel's 2000 Dune miniseries and its 2003 follow-up, Children of Dune....
as Mara - Callum BlueCallum BlueDaniel James Callum Blue , better known as Callum Blue, is an English film and television actor, best known for his roles on the Showtime series The Tudors and Dead Like Me as well as for his role as Zod in the American television series Smallville and British...
as Carlo - Valentina CerviValentina CerviValentina Cervi is an Italian film and television actress.Cervi was born in Rome, Italy. She is the daughter of director Tonino Cervi and granddaughter of the famous Italian actor Gino Cervi. Cervi started her acting career at age ten in Carlo Cotti's 1986 film Portami la luna...
as Arianna - Catherine SpaakCatherine Spaak-Biography:Spaak was born at Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine . She is the niece of Belgian politician Paul-Henri Spaak.She spent most of her career in Italy, where she became a teenage star...
as Mamma - Ben MilesBen MilesBen Miles is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the British TV comedy Coupling, from 2000 to 2004.-Life and career:...
as Amedeo Colonna - Stanley TownsendStanley Townsend-Theatre:Townsend's work in theatre includes: Remember This, Guys and Dolls and Phedre at the National Theatre, London; The Alice Trilogy, Shining City , Under the Blue Sky and The Weir at the Royal Court, London; The Wake, Trinity for Two and Sacred Mysteries at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; The...
as Moscati - Ed StoppardEd StoppardEdmund Stoppard , often credited as Ed Stoppard, is a British actor.-Life and career:Stoppard was born in London, United Kingdom, the son of playwright Tom Stoppard and physician/author Miriam Stoppard , through whom he is related to former MP Oona King...
as Vincenzo Fabri - Vincent RiottaVincent RiottaVincent Riotta is an English-born stage and film actor of Italian descent. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He went on to perform in various stage plays, such as Shakespeare's Romeo, which was held at the Young Vic, Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, held at the Leicester...
as Giorgio de Angelis - Sargon Yelda as Romizi
- Francesco QuinnFrancesco QuinnFrancesco Daniele Quinn was an Italian-born actor. The third son of Oscar winner Anthony Quinn and Jolanda Addorlori , Francesco is perhaps best known for his breakout role as Rhah in Oliver Stone’s Academy Award-winning Platoon...
as Gilberto Nieddu - Anthony HigginsAnthony HigginsAnthony C. Higgins was a lawyer and politician from Wilmington, in New Castle County, Delaware. He was a veteran of the Civil War and a member of the Republican, who served as United States Senator from Delaware....
as Guerchini - Garry Cooper as Angelo
Series 1 (2011)
| # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate | UK viewers (million) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Series 1 was first shown in the USA on the PBS network: Vendetta, Cabal, and RatKing on July 17, 24, and 31, 2011 respectively.
External links
- Zen from the Masterpiece website