Zen - Vendetta (BBC TV, produced by Left Bank Pictures)

Many discover the ability to apply more patience as they get older; they might even learn to treasure this new found virtue.  On first viewing of Vendetta, I found the launch episode of Zen to be a little dull, with all the slow burn scenarios delivering dying embers within the all-encompassing sepia frames of Italy presented.  (Where was the colour?)  But on a second viewing, courtesy of BBC’s iplayer, I saw much more and appreciated the contrast.  It wasn’t perfection, but hey, it was promising.

Vendetta offered two plot strands, opening with the thriller element of a man pursuing his plan of vendetta executions. Before we could say ‘Who? Why? Can he be stopped?’, the second strand sputtered in by Piaggio and here we had a tidy crime puzzle requiring Aurelio Zen’s investigative attention: a man convicted of murder had found God and was now declaring he had not committed the murder.  As they’d had a confession for the conviction and Zen admitted he’d considered the investigation ‘lax’, he had his work cut out on the re-investigation.  Political interest only added to the stresses of honest Aurelio.