Zen (TV series) explained

Genre:	Police drama
Director:	John Alexander (Vendetta) Christopher Menaul (Cabal) Jon Jones (Ratking)
Starring:	Rufus Sewell Caterina Murino Ben Miles Catherine Spaak Stanley Townsend Ed Stoppard Francesco Quinn Anthony Higgins
Opentheme:	Adrian Johnston
Composer:	Adrian Johnston
Country:	United Kingdom Italy Germany
Language:	English
Num Series:	1
Num Episodes:	3
Executive Producer:	Andy Harries, Francis Hopkinson, Raffaella Bonivento, Rebecca Eaton, Anne Mensah
Producer:	Michael Casey
Location:	Rome
Cinematography:	Tony Miller
Runtime:	90 minutes
Company:	Left Bank Pictures, Mediaset, Masterpiece, ZDF
Channel:	BBC One

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.^[1] It stars Rufus Sewell and Caterina Murino and is based on the Aurelio Zen detective novels by Michael Dibdin.^[2] 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.^[3] The three films were based on the books Vendetta (1990), Cabal (1992) and Ratking (1988).^[4] The series was cancelled by BBC One in February 2011; BBC One controller Danny Cohen later said there were already enough male crime-fighters on TV.^[5] Left Bank, the show's producer, tried to find other broadcasters to fund another series but were unsuccessful.^[6]

Regular cast

• Rufus Sewell as Aurelio Zen
  A smart and honest police detective in Rome who struggles to maintain his integrity amongst the bureaucracy and political interference in the department. He is in love with Tania Moretti, but long odds in the betting for who will sleep with her first.
• Caterina Murino as Tania Moretti
  Office support worker for the squad. She is beautiful, smart and compassionate. She likes Zen and is trying to divorce her husband.
• Ben Miles as Amedeo Colonna
  The Minister's fixer. He is a powerful, connected and amoral man who believes that Zen is working for him, something that Zen encourages.
• Stanley Townsend as Moscati
  Zen's boss. He is a gruff, no nonsense man who does not suffer fools gladly. He is fond of Zen and Tania.
• Francesco Quinn as Gilberto Nieddu
  Zen's ex-partner who now runs a private security business. The two have remained friends and Zen asks Gilberto for help when he needs advice or to go outside the department.
• Catherine Spaak as Donata
  Zen's mother who was widowed when her husband was shot on the job. Zen moved in with her after he separated from his wife. She is wise, caring and concerned for her son.
• Vincent Riotta as Giorgio de Angelis
  A colleague whom Zen trusts.
• Ed Stoppard as Vincenzo Fabri
  A detective with a powerful and wealthy uncle who is more interested in playing politics to advance his career than solving cases.
• Anthony Higgins as Eduardo Guerchini
  The Minister, who leaves all the dirty work to Colonna.
• Cosima Shaw as Nadia Pirlo
  Powerful Prosecutor in the case against the cabal, who also tries to get romantically involved with Zen.

Complete main cast

Character	Vendetta	Cabal	Ratking
Pepe Spadola
Fausto Arcuti	Adrian Hood
Francesco Pirotta			Franco Maria Salamon
Ana Bini	Katrine De Candole
Alessandro Antonioni			Rocky Marshall
Giulia			Selene Rosiello
Rossella Nieddu	Yasemin Samino
Mario	Joseph Long
Giuseppe Bini		Adrian Schiller
Gilberto Nieddu	Francesco Quinn
Eduardo Guerchini	Anthony Higgins
Ernesto Heuber			Michael McElhatton
Sister Anna			Katy Murphy
Tomassini		Massimiliano Ulaldi
Silvia		Cariddi Nardulli
Angeto	Garry Cooper
Arianna von Falkenhayn
Donata	Catherine Spaak
Avel Vasko
Branco	Daniele Monterosi
Jdg. Corrado Bertolini
Maria			Nathalie Rapti Gomez
	Rufus Sewell
Paolo	Roberto Laureli
Mara
Evie			Susan Duerden
Lucia	Chiara Nicola
Mazzotta
Tania Moretti	Caterina Murino
Nadia Pirlo		Cosima Shaw
Amedeo Colonna	Ben Miles
Luca La Guardia			Paolo Mazzarelli
Donatella Pirotta			Zoe Tapper
Moscati	Stanley Townsend
Carlo Fagioli			Callum Blue
Ramizi	Sargon Yelda
Tito Spadola
Fellini
Giorgio de Angelis	Vincent Riotta
Cinzia Miletti			Sarah-Jane Potts
Michelangelo Gattuso
Renato Favelloni
Vincenzo Fabri	Ed Stoppard
Massimo Colanna
Oscar Faso	Alessandro Cica
Silvio Miletti			Sebastian Armesto

Episodes

Series 1 (2011)

Series 1 was first shown in the USA on the PBS network: Vendetta, Cabal, and Ratking on 17, 24 and 31 July 2011, respectively.

External links

• • Zen from the Masterpiece website

Notes and References

1. News: Zen could survive after being sold abroad. Tara. Conlan. 2 March 2011. 2 March 2011. The Guardian.
2. Web site: Rufus Sewell confirmed to play Aurelio Zen for BBC One. BBC. 2 January 2011.
3. News: Vine. Richard. Zen and the art of Sunday night television scheduling. 2 January 2011. The Guardian. 1 January 2011.
4. Web site: Zen . Left Bank Pictures . 2 January 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101018074550/http://www.leftbankpictures.co.uk/film/zen.html . 18 October 2010 .
5. News: BBC One controller to cull male crime-fighters. 28 April 2011. 28 April 2011. BBC.
6. News: BBC1 axes Rufus Sewell detective drama Zen. Tara. Conlan. 22 February 2011. 23 February 2011. The Guardian.
7. Web site: Weekly Viewing Summary (see relevant week) . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081108151337/http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/weekreports.cfm?report=weeklyterrestrial&RequestTimeout=500 . 8 November 2008 .