This looks good. Love a detective drama with prob a bit of romance and a thriller
3 episodes shown weekly
In Drama’s intriguing new series, Phoebe Fox is a disillusioned spy looking for a change of lifestyle. She heads for the beautiful Italian countryside – but she’s soon caught up in murder
We all love a murder mystery, right? The intrigue, the skulduggery, the shocking twists, the working out which of the recognisable guest stars is the culprit. It’s tons of fun, and it’s a genre British TV does marvellously well.
But sometimes we’ll be watching one set on the rainy city streets, or perhaps a bleak seaside town, and we’ll think: you know what? I’d be enjoying this just a little more if it was set amid the gorgeous, sun-soaked scenery of, ooh, I don’t know, Italy.
And our wish has come true! Signora Volpe, starting on Wednesday 1 November on Drama, is a delightfully British murder-mystery series with a backdrop of enchanting Italian landscapes.
Silent Witness star Emilia Fox is in the lead role of Phoebe Fox, an MI6 operative who’s disillusioned with her career and takes a trip to spend time with her family and reassess her life. But, wouldn’t you know it, deception and subterfuge – along with a unhealthy dollop of death – follow her all the way to Umbria…
Soon she's tackling other cases and winning over a handsome local cop (Giovanni Cirfiera), even as her ex-husband/ex-colleague (Jamie Bamber) tries to lure her back.
Creators Rachel Cuperman and Sally Griffiths, who have previously written for Midsomer Murders, were inspired by a real-life British spy named Daphne Park. She had a distinguished, occasionally thrilling, Foreign Office career during and after the Second World War – but, they wondered, what if she had tired of the constant lying, double-dealing and general underhandedness? Can a spy ever really change their nature?
Phoebe proves unable to do so. As well as being dragged back into some murky espionage business by her ex-husband Adam (Jamie Bamber, Law & Order: UK), she can’t resist investigating when her niece’s fiancé disappears and a body is found at his house.
She also gets entangled with local police in the form of handsome carabinieri captain Giovanni Riva (Giovanni Cirfieri, Le Mans ’66) – who bestows on her the nickname Signora Volpe, “Madam Fox”.
But Signora Volpe is about more than murders, MI6 and marvellous scenery.
The mystery plots sit alongside a character-driven drama about a woman reconnecting not just with her family but with herself, after spending too long in an unhappy place. Phoebe’s interactions with her sister Isabel (Tara Fitzgerald, Belgravia) let us know who she really is, while her verbal sparring with Riva is delightful.
And good news for fans of the breathtaking Umbrian vistas: Phoebe has bought a crumbling house in the area, so she’s not going anywhere – and another series is already in the works…