New Italian crime drama by the people who worked on Gomorrah: Maltese

Variety, the world’s leading show-business publication, reports on a new crime series called ‘Maltese’, written by Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, who worked on the hit series ‘Gomorrah’, about organised crime in Naples. It is produced by Palomar, Italian state television network RAI and Maze Pictures.

The UK rights have been acquired by Walter Presents, a TV drama VOD service, which will stream it as its first-ever Italian drama. Walter Iuzzolino of Walter Presents told Variety: “I’ve been on a mission to find a great Italian drama for the last three years and this is truly an exceptional one. It’s a violent, elegant, nostalgic piece that combines the pathos of The Godfather with the achingly stylish beauty of Mad Men.”

The eight-part series stars Kim Rossi Stuart as a police detective who returns to his homeland, Sicily, to be at the wedding of a childhood friend. He finds himself caught up in a murder and waging war against the mafia.

I was impressed by the publicity still, which shows a typically Maltese scene even if it’s not meant to be: three Maltese archetypes in a partially demolished ‘house of character’. I’m hoping Maltese is just the detective’s surname.