Il Commissario Ricciardi

Beautifully and artfully produced series, set during the period of Mussolini's Fascist regime in Italy.

It is a character-driven series, centering on Ricciardi, a Detective Inspector in the police force, but also a Baron, who shuns the vanities of that ilk.

You get drawn not only into the character of Ricciardi, battling his demons, while yearning for love, but also the lives of the supporting characters he is surrounded by.

I found it to be extremely absorbing, and a captivating storyline, interspersed with the cases he solves.

It is dramatic, and romantic, and tragic, and beautifully done.

I almost gave up on the first episode however I am glad I stuck with it. At first it seemed too twee and saccharine, a bit clichéd. However subsequent episodes have been unexpectedly quite hard hitting and complex. Interwoven is a bittersweet love story, and Naples looks great, with Vesuvius as a dramatic backdrop. The characters are likeable too, and interesting, particularly Bruno and Garzo. I like the elements relating to Mussolini too. All in all a really good detective show. Inspector Montalbano is still my favourite, but I am really looking forward to the second series of this. I recommend this.

Best thing I have seen since Gran Hotel (Spanish). It is surprising to me that both of my favourite programmes of all time have had subtitles, but seriously I couldn't wait to watch the next episode. The casting and each of the characters are superb in their own right. It has a mix of mystery, romance, comedy, with a few twists and turns as it is set in 1930's Naples during the rise of fascism. I understand that there is a series 3 in the pipeline which I really hope materialises. Apparently there are a number of books on which this series is based so there should be plenty of stories to tell.

This is a hidden gem and I really do hope we get to see more.

This is a great streaming series. Beautifully filmed (cinematography, editing, etc). Set in Italy during the Mussolini fascist regime, it's basically a crime investigation series, but it's totally in context of the history and politics of the time. Top-drawer acting, great drama. It's very much a character-driven work. The detective has his own personal story and "special" skill, like so many. Each episode follows smoothly from the prior one. What you would think would be "minor" characters are actually very essential to everything going on. There's great good and great evil. I cannot imagine it being anything less than one of the best I've seen.

This series is photographed beautifully so each scene looks like an old-master painting. Delightful to see. The characters are engaging and draw you in. However, aside from portrayal of the drive by fascism to dictate behavior and our character's resistance to it, the episodes have a fairy tale lightness to them. Not by any stretch of imagination the psychological gloom of Endeavour or the hard hitting of Line of Duty. Instead, an enjoyable entertainment with glimpses of amusement and tongue in cheek, set in a contrasting fascist background. As an instance of the unreality the viewer is inclined to indulge, our Detective is attracted to a neighbor living in an apartment across the street, but he and her both are made so uncomfortable with their entrancement that their contact is primarily that of looking at each other through their apartment windows.

Interesting to watch despite its unbelievable aspects.