Saturday BBC4 - New Inspector Montalbano

[LurkingHusband]

4 new programmes ...

[CoolCarrie]

Excellent! Will be watching

[Madbengalmum]

Yay, brilliant. It feels like an eternity since he's been on our screens.

[DonkeysDontRideBicycles]

Actually cheered out loud when I heard, saddo that I am!

[Janika]

Yum

[LouiseBrooks]

The trailer makes Sicily look stunning (which it is, I've had several holidays there) but, despite several attempts at watching it, it leaves me cold.

Can someone please tell me, is it meant to be a comedy, because I've discussed this with a friend and neither of us can decide. We get the impression it is meant to, but it's not actually funny.

[officerhinrika]

Salvo is back! Looking forward to this.

[Fekko]

The books aren't funny but the things series is a bit Iike 70s uk shows like Minder - so bodies galore by everyone grinning Ike loons in the last shot. In the books he's a miserable old git.

[DonkeysDontRideBicycles]

I don't know about comedy but Catarella is a well-meaning dolt and Mimi the great seducer is vain and there are some long running in-jokes I suppose.

It's the theme music that cracks me up.

[SilverHawk]

Booting DH off the telly soon
It's a shame it's only four new episodes; bit like Endeavour. They drip feed us!

[Fekko]

Errrrr. Hmmmmm. Livia? No.

[Jayfee]

Watched 1st series and young montalbano and loved them. thought 3rd series seedy. just watched the murdered prostitute episode and thought it was terrible. sexist beyond belief, dated, unbelievable and some of the poorest acting and writing ive ever watched. the scenery is beautiful as ever but the constant emphasis on the food and beach makes it blatant tourist bait.

[Fekko]

He is a greedy bugger in the books though.

[helzapoppin2]

They all seem to have aged quite a bit since the last series I saw. Mimi was unrecognisable with the dodgy moustache. Bits of it do seem like comedy.
Who kidnapped Livia and replaced her with that new woman? She probably needs a dog for company, since Montalbano blows hot and cold.
Come to think of it, the whole thing was a bit of a shaggy dog story!

[Tigerlovingall]

The young montalbano hasn't aged well, has he? I was so looking forward to a dose of Saturday night eye candy.
Sicily is as gorgeous as ever, tho.
And the dog is nice.

[officerhinrika]

it's the older Salvo that I want to watch anyway, but the new Livia was rather confusing. I kept wondering who she was as she looked so different.
I've been amusing myself since googling where the series is filmed and looking at hotels. I could just about cope with a Montalbano themed week in Sicily.

[Lotsawobblybits]

So exited about this but ended up missing it- hoping it's on iPlayer.

Apparently Montalbalnos house on the beach is run as a Holiday rental & you can stay there, there are tours of the filming locations as well.

I think the books have some humour in them, I think Cat is there as a Shakespearean 'fool' type character to provide humour as well as a child like insight.

Why are there never any people on the streets though, it always looks deserted!

[LurkingHusband]

From my memory of Montalbano lore, the actor(s) that play Livia are a result of the fact that the programme is co-funded by a non-Italian network ... I think there was a similar thing in the Inspector Luca programmes from a few years back.

just watched the murdered prostitute episode and thought it was terrible. sexist beyond belief, dated, unbelievable

Have you been to Sicily outside Palermo ?

[Tigerlovingall]

Yes, the lack of other traffic, or even pedestrians, on the streets is remarkable. (no strings of washing between one side of the road and the other? Nah, that will never happen!)
My big treat tho happened right at the very beginning, when montalbano went to answer the phone fractionally before it started ringing
Despite older montalbano not aging well(!) I'll be watching the rest.
Probably.

[Jayfee]

lurking ...i have never been to Sicily but now I am thinking I might!!

[LouiseBrooks]

Just watched the murdered prostitute episode and thought it was terrible. sexist beyond belief, dated, unbelievable

I think every episode I've seen is like that. Poorly written and acted sums it up. To me it also comes across as if they mean it to be funny, but it really isn't.

I spent several years holidaying in Sicily and have been all over the island. There's plenty of traffic (but not so much on the motorways) and hordes of people - except mid afternoon in the summer. The Sicilians are charming and very helpful but yes, I'm sure many are still sexist. It's a stunning place though, may be time to go back. The Inspector's "charms" leave me cold but I love the island.

Obviously

[LurkingHusband]

i have never been to Sicily but now I am thinking I might!!

as with all places, there's the touristy bits Palermo, Agrigento, Messina, Syracuse ...) and the bits in between. It's the bits in between that can be a tad ... retro. That's if they can be bothered to speak Italian .

[LouiseBrooks]

Sorry, "obviously" should have been deleted.

[Fekko]

Jesus, that really stunk up Saturday night didn't it? Is Camiliero still writing this or is it a cheesy tack-bot?

[CoolCarrie]

Very disappointing, they need to make more Young Montalbano instead