Zen

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Anyone in the UK who didn't just watch Zen (9PM BBC) have just missed the best drama the BBC have done in months (certainly since Sherlock), possibly years; and they've certainly set the benchmark for the rest of UK drama's to try and beat in 2011.

It's a detective show, set in and around Rome, but with a largely English cast and the dialogue is all in English. Rufus Sewell is the lead, and he was just superb, portraying the smart, honest, witty,reserved, stoic and savvy Detective Zen to perfection. It may have been ever so slightly slow in the opening fifteen-twenty minutes but you can forgive any 90-minute detective story that, as the 'case of the week' is laid out and the initial investigations begin and once it picked up it really flew.

It also had a collection of one-liners, probably my favourite being when Zen was talking to the Russian bride of a key-witness. She's been coming onto him but he's rejected her initial advances;

Bride: Do you not like sex?

Zen: (Deadpan) Hmm? Oh, no, no, I remember it very fondly.

Anyway, that was the first of 3-90 minute episodes, ala Sherlock and you should all have watched it.

[DFF]

Anyone in the UK who didn't just watch Zen (9PM BBC) have just missed the best drama the BBC have done in months (certainly since Sherlock), possibly years; and they've certainly set the benchmark for the rest of UK drama's to try and beat in 2011.

It's a detective show, set in and around Rome, but with a largely English cast and the dialogue is all in English. Rufus Sewell is the lead, and he was just superb, portraying the smart, honest, witty,reserved, stoic and savvy Detective Zen to perfection. It may have been ever so slightly slow in the opening fifteen-twenty minutes but you can forgive any 90-minute detective story that, as the 'case of the week' is laid out and the initial investigations begin and once it picked up it really flew.

It also had a collection of one-liners, probably my favourite being when Zen was talking to the Russian bride of a key-witness. She's been coming onto him but he's rejected her initial advances;

Bride: Do you not like sex?

Zen: (Deadpan) Hmm? Oh, no, no, I remember it very fondly.

Anyway, that was the first of 3-90 minute episodes, ala Sherlock and you should all have watched it.

Sounds like fun, and the trailer looked good. I'm sure it'll be on iPlayer, so I'll catch it later.

[Vamp]

It was pretty stylish and a good solid first episode to build on. There was something missing, which I think was that real spark or connection with the characters but that'll build anyway. That was also probably inevitable because of the kind of reserved character Zen is I suppose.

[DFF]

Watched it on the iPlayer last night and thought it was pretty amazing. Sewell was pure class, and the supporting cast were generally very good. I think the plot ended up being a little obvious, but that doesn't detract from the show's quality.

[DFF]

No more Zen

BBC One controller to cull male crime-fighters

BBC One controller Danny Cohen has said he plans to limit the number of male detectives in the channel's dramas.

Zen, starring Rufus Sewell, was axed because there were already enough male crime-fighters on TV, he said.

Sherlock, Luther, Wallander and Inspector George Gently are among other BBC shows to feature male sleuths.

"I felt that we risked having too many male detectives and arguably we had maybe too much crime," Cohen told the Broadcasting Press Guild this week.

"Detectives and crime is the real staple of quite a lot of BBC, but also a huge amount of ITV drama," he continued.

"One of the things I want to do is to broaden the palette a bit."

Zen, set in Rome, ran for one three-episode series in January, attracting an average of 5.7 million viewers.

Fresh ideas

Recently the long-running Waking the Dead, starring Trevor Eve and Sue Johnston, came to an end on BBC One.

A spin-off called The Body Farm, centred on Tara FitzGerald's character Dr Eve Lockhart, is currently being filmed.

At a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch on Wednesday, Cohen said the channel would still retain a number of quality crime shows.

But some programmes had to make way for fresh ideas, he added. "You can't keep doing everything if you want to bring in new things."

Vera, a new female-led detective show starring Brenda Blethyn, begins on ITV1 on Sunday.

from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13221071

[Timmoru Suzuki]

Boo! Zen was quality. The answer to their being 'too many male crime fighters,' not that I agree, is to comission more female leading ones, not cancel the male-leading ones.

If they HAD to cancel a male based cop show, then I can see Zen being a victim of budget and the fact that Luther series two is about good to go. Sherlock was a big success, Wallander is more established and Gently pulls in the olds.

But still, this sucks; at the worst Zen was a lot of fun; and best it was about as good as anything the BBC's been doing for years.