Montalbano Season 2 episodes 2 to 5

Today I begin my adoration of the second series shown in the UK of Commissario Salvo Montalbano although I will keep up a diary as I watch or listen to sport and my day on day activities.

While there are other characters in the series, the second being shown on BBC Four in original Sicilian, Italian and Sicilian Italian (reminding me of Gibraltar Spanish and English) Commissario (Inspector) Salvo Montalbano dominates each episode from start to finish.

One reference describes Salvo as honest, loyal and decent but I have to disagree. Although Salvo is basically honest he is prepared to break rules and turn the blind eye but always in the course of justice and fairness as well as from his humanitarianism. He is a good guy. He has strong views about integrity, especially of the police dislikes those who pretend to be what they are not or adopt or misuse the power and privileges of office. He has rime for Aging Mafia bosses who want settle issues in the traditional way as long as they know he will take action against them if they are caught breaking the law.

I describe him best as a man who cares and in last night‘s programmes he cannot bear to look or yet another body of a slaughtered young girl. He is loyal to his men and there are no female police at his station or it appears to be the situation in Sicily, but while his head wants him to be loyal to his long term woman friend, Livia who lives and works in Genoa on the mainland, he only resists some of the opportunities which come his way by women, often younger women who adore his looks, his manner and his role.

In the first season shown on the BBC between February and April she appears in several episodes but so far the second series which commenced in August she has only be heard on the telephone. I do not know is this was a writing decision of the author or something which the TV series adapted because the actress was not available to be filmed although he has engaged in phone calls with her in several episodes of the second series to date

It looked as if the couple would marry and live together during the first series, but the truth is Salvo likes his way of life, his home on the beach and his pasta and his fish. Good food at his favourite restaurant or eating out on his balcony overlooking the sea are as important if not more important than a companion in his bed. Livia and the others with whom he has a relationship know that they are a poor second when he is involved in a troubling case, but when on holiday or with a free weekend, he is with them as any woman could wish, or any partner in a same sex relationship.

I will also remind that while the BBC is showing 16 episodes in two seasons this year in terms of published scheduling, they were first shown in Italy from 1999(2) 2000(2) 2001(2) 2002(4) 2005(2) 2006(2) 2008 (4) AND 2011(3). I am acquiring the books to read 11 so far with six episodes written only for TV and will acquire series 1 DVD 10 episodes in the future. I did write about the first episode in the present series Turning Point based on the book Rounding he Mark so that leaves the five others since to cover.

I will also sat at the outset that setting of Sicily is gorgeous as is the orchestral accompaniment and I am constantly struck by the lack of traffic in his town of Vigata. There is grandeur about the towns and often the houses and flats he visits are huge buildings with large rooms, tall ceilings, great wooden double doors and antique furniture. There is a feeling of space, light and warmth although sometimes it is so hot that they struggle to cope and when it rains, it floods down as I have experienced.

While the series is about the work and life of the Commissario he had a team of three men who have been with him throughout. His deputy Mimi (Domenico Augello), a ladies man who is now married with a child but with a roving eye which he finds difficult to control did consider leaving for the mainland when he became involved with a police woman he had met on a course or conference

Their assistant (Guissope) Fazio, is loyal, dependable and often taken for granted and (Agatino) Catarella, came top of the computer course which amazed everyone, usually goes into doors which he bands, often forgets what he has come into say, manages the front desk, the communications system and the police station as far as one can judge. In addition to Livia Mimi’s wife Beba Beatrice di Leo has become a regular while Mimi’s sister and brother law are visited as Salvo keeps contact with the fostered/ adopted boy that he and Livia nearly adopted after his mother was murdered and his father was found dead in an early first season episode.

I begin with latest episode The Wings of the Sphinx which engaged me throughout and touches on the influence of the Mafia and politicians and others have for self protection. A young woman is found dead, naked on a beach with her face obliterated and a butterfly Tattoo on one shoulder, but she did not die there and had been dead for some 24 hours. Salvo works out that she probably died somewhere which was closed on a Sunday and the body removed to be found before the premises opened. He arranges for the photo of the Tattoo to be shown on TV and he is contacted by an old man who had a carer arranged from him when the relative who looks after him had to be away. The girl was Russian and lived in, she had come to Italy via an organisation and then was helped by an organisation which liked to be called an association and which used volunteers to recruit prostitutes and girl who worked in clubs to save them for a better life and looked after then at an establishment which could accommodate over a dozen of the girls. This girl had suddenly left. It was not the dead girl however but the Tattoo is identical

When Salvo is going home one night he is overtaken by a fast car driven by Ingrid who was part of a previous story with an important husband now a Member of Parliament in Rome, spending a lot of time away. She is also a womanly with a history and I believe she had a temporary relationship with Montalbano. She cancels her engagement claiming a headache after learning that Salvo is on his own and that a meal has been prepared by his housekeeper. Over the meal she asks about his current cases and he mentions the murder and the Tattoo. This startles the woman who mentions that she a live in young female help with a Tattoo on her shoulder who had come from Russia and who had disappeared taken jewellery with her.

The girl has been located by her husband’s accountant who comes to the station after being contacted by the friend and he mentions the association, a charitable body which is run by a priest akin to a bishop. This is an influential man who criticises Montalbano for being five minutes late and who explains that while he is the Patron and Treasurer, he has not met one of the young women in the five years of his involvement. He puts Salvo in contact with his Director of Operations and from that meeting Salvo is taken to where the girls live by two of the volunteers including the man who recruits the girls on Saturday evenings. Afterwards there is a complaint that Montalbano had undertaken a raid on the organisation and he is given only four days to complete investigation by his superiors and told not to upset or involve the Association further except without exceptionally good grounds. Neither of these girls can be found nor the murdered girl named.

Then the elderly man calls on Montalbano and says he saw the girl when returning from a visit by bus heading in the direction of a Parish Church. Salvo visits and finds the priest is working out and a former boxer who denies having contact with the girl or knowing her present whereabouts but expresses strong disapproval of the charitable organisation. Salvo is convinced the priest does know where the girl is but is protecting her.

There are then two developments which enable him to begin to solve the mysteries. The son of his visiting housekeeper who is in prison (covered in a previous episode) asks to see Montalbano to mention unofficially that a hardened criminal who had shared his cell had admitted to being in love with a Russian girl who had lived with him and the man had changed as a consequence. The girl had a butterfly on her shoulder. The man and the girl are not at home when the Commissario visits.

He is then contacted by the fire service because of a fire at a paint shop which is unusual as well as suspicious and where the owner lives in a flat above. The evidence is that the fire started within and where there are no sings of forced entry but it is not an insurance fraud as the man is of good means. Salvo Fazio visits and do a double act in the questioning. They check if the man has a revolver which Salvo points out they will be able to check if it was recently fired. They ask if he has a safe or where does he keep the takings from the weekend and he shows them his desk where the taking before the fire are still kept. Although they leave they expect the man to come to them with an admission. He had been woken at night to find someone in the flat and later followed to where they were riffling the till. He had called for the individual to stop and the pulled trigger killing the person with the second shot fired. This accounted for the traces of material found inside the skull as the thief had covered their face. There have also been traces of a substance used to create gilt effect under the finger nails and when her had fired a quantity of the substance had covered the body. He had found that the person was dead and the female cleaner. He had disposed of the body where it was found and thought he had got away with it but then the news had mentioned that the persons teeth and been smashed by the force of the bullet and would been still at the scene of the murder. For this reason he had attempted to burn down the shop and not just the clothing of the girl and his own.

Then the man who did the recruiting is shot in his car in the face. How can this be? The answer comes with a message from the son of the cleaner in prison to say the likely whereabouts of the criminal who had shared a cell. It was his girl who had been killed and he had taken his revenge in the same manner on the man who recruited her. The man is captured at the place where the son of the cleaner housekeeper said he was likely to be hiding.

Before the capture Salvo received a message from the former boxer priest to say that the missing girl who worked for the old man was with him as was one of the other girls who had been badly beaten up and had come to his home for refuge via the girl already with him. They were both willing to testify in court their story. There were four girls from Russia who had come to Italy with the promise of work via an agency whose families had struggled to find the money for a ticket. Each group of girls was given a different Tattoo and in order to repay the full cost of their passage and stay to those sending them and their families they not only had to work in the clubs but go with men afterwards. The Welfare association seemed a good way as the organisation they would also arrange for their release from their existing contract and commitments. However they were then told to steal jewellery or valuables from where they were placed and they would be able to retain a quarter of the value. It was from a photograph of all four girls together that Salvo was told the dead girl friend had been the girl friend of the criminal. Because of his backgrounds and involvement the welfare group had been unable to do anything when she left them and went to live in with the man but she had wanted to send money to her family and had persuaded to be allowed to work further and agreed to go for the weekend takings at the paint store. The priest urges Salvo to ensure those involved go to prison and he says he will do his best. He is told to pass on the case which he willingly does because of the wish to spend a few days with Livia. He tells the person taking over and the media sufficient to ensure the organisation is exposed despite all those seeking who protect it.

Before saying more about the relationship with Livia there is one other story in the episode which has its amusing moments. Unattractive older women call to say her husband was kidnapped and where inquiries reveal he had money with him and his passport. There has been no request for a ransom although a delay sometimes occurs in such cases. When the media become interested in the story a business man contacts Salvo to say that on a visit to Cuba where he has three girl friends he had seen the missing man in a club with an attractive young woman. He appeals for discretion as he has a wife and child back in Sicily. Salvo arranges for his face to be blocked from the photographic proof with him and breaks the news to his wife who denies it is husband or that he would do something like this. The husband reappears saying he was released and his passport taken as well as the money on him. It appears he is financially dependent on his wife and the kidnapping ploy was a way to get a short break away from her.

At the dinner with Ingrid Salvo admits that he got into a rage at Livia when she returned for the hotel with a male friend and his yacht and he had admitted to her he had a short relationship with a young girl. They had broken up and although he wanted contact again he was not sure of the reception. Ingrid says that given the length of time they were together he should persevere and he attempts to ring her several times without success. Eventually she rings and it is agreed that they will spend a few days together at a neutral venue, but only when the current case is ended.

Because oft he way the case develops Salvo is able to meet her flight and as she has said if he fails to arrive she will return home he books the next fight back to Genoa where she lives. He arrives in the rain and finds that she has set off without her mobile which explains what he was unable to contact her during the day to explain what was happening. She instead of returning had gone to his home when he is able to contact on the land line. It is left open if they get together on the remaining days of his holiday.

　

The previous Saturday’s episode was called August Flame (22 September) with the story from the book August Heat and Mimi has rented a holiday home from where their son disappears and both parents are frantic. Salvo investigates and finds that the boy has gone exploring and has found his way into a sealed second holiday flat built in the cliff side partly under the second. This has nearly been completed with doors and windows ready to be installed but in a way which is not recognisable as a flat from the grounds of the home where Mini and his family are staying.

In a corner there is large chest which when opened reveals the remains of a fifteen year old girl. She has lain there for a number of years and is found to be the identical twin of someone who is now a young woman and who makes a play for Montalbano as soon as she meets him.

Suspicion falls on a number of people as the owner and developer of the holiday home project are identified, including a cranky neighbour while the developer appears to have a cast iron alibi and he is eventually trapped by using the girl as bait and arranging to meet him at the lower home which is the process of being sold after planning permission is contained. The two men who worked on the home are interviewed and eventually eliminated from the investigation. Because of the risk Montalbano gives he girl his gun and when she is attacked she shoots the murderer of her sister dead before Montalbano who is waiting nearby out of sight can intervene. He takes responsibility for the death and the parents of the dead girl buy the holiday complex to leave empty because it had become the grave for one of their daughters. I was left feeling unhappy and concerned at the way the episode ended feeling that the girl had shot the man too readily.

The previous week, the Game of Three Cards was an original telescript with two stories which as far as I can remember are unrelated apart from featuring two single minded women one I will describe as sexually gorgeous who is the wife of a wanted villain on the run who commands the attention of Mimi, causing Salvo concern because of the potential threat to Mimi’s marriage with Beba (Beatrice). Because of the attention he has given to the wife it is Salvo who discovers that the home has several possible exits and possibly a hideaway enabling the husband to visit and leave without being spotted by those keeping watch. The criminal is eventually caught to the relief of Salvo while the wife continues to strut her stuff about the town.

The main story arises when the Commissario is approached before eating at his favoured restaurant by the accountant of a constructor called Tarantino who is said to have been killed when full of drink close to his home in a hit and run. The accountant is convinced there is something wrong with the declared finding. The significant first piece of evidence is that several years before, as much as twenty years prior to the hit and run death a man Rocco Pensinni was convicted of the premeditated death of the partner of Tarantino in order to be able to marry the wife who had become his lover. Why he should have killed then killed partner and faked the death to look like a hit run was something which Salvo rightly questions. It is when a second man is found dead close to the isolated home of a Shepherd and whose features look as if they have been altered that separate events begin to link up. The man, Granieri has been away from Sicily for two decades and was part of a Mafia family, the same family with whom the constructor is found to have had dealings enabling him to win contracts. With the death of his partner he was able to control the whole company.

Granieri is found to have had a distinctive voice, obtained via a phone message. A key person in establishing the connections is the sister of Rocco who is blind but remembers a visitor posing a utility official who called on the day of the murder for which her brother was convicted. She identifies the man as the same as the voice. She also mentions that on the night in question she and her brother had been invited out but he stayed home and she had gone alone. He was staying in because his lover had called and said she would visit as she had done on many previous occasions with the sister hearing her footsteps and going to room of her brother. In this instance she had not come and therefore he had no alibi.

What emerges from flash backs is that the woman wanted the relationship to continue as it was but Rocco could not share with the husband and threatened to tell the husband, his employer that the relationship was continuing having promised that it had ended after it had been discovered by the husband. The lover had threatened to shoot himself thus disclosing to the wife that he had a weapon in his room. What had then happened is that Tarantino wanting to get rid of his partner and the woman Renata de Mora wanting to get rid of her lover and husband had told the assassin about the gun and he had taken it posing as an official and then Renata had failed to turn up which would have given her lover an alibi while the husband was shot. This belief is confirmed after the police had circulated a photo of Granieri and Rocco calls at the station to say he had been contacted by Renata when he was released from prison but he had not responded at first but had then gone unannounced the following day and seen the man in the photo having a heated conversation with his former lover. The man had gone off as soon as Renata had seen him approaching. He had also seen the man observing him at his home.

Salvo put the case against her to Renata and at first she tries to bluff but then admits knowing there is no proof with the death of both the contractor and Granieri. Granieri has come back and killed the contractor although I cannot remember if this was on behalf of the Mafia or on his own account. Rocco visits to say he is making a fresh start in Rome and appears amazing relaxed and accepting about the injustice which led him to spend two decades in jail. The reason why Granieri was found dead close to the Shepherd‘s home is established when it is found that the dead man is the son of the Shepherd. He has killed his son finding out the kind of man he was and pleads with Salvo to be allowed to end his own life with the gun he used on his son. This happens.

In Patience of the Spider which is based on a novel Montalbano is still on official on sick leave when a young girl goes missing and the whole community becomes concerned. The assumption is that she has been kidnapped for ransom. My recollection is that early on I worked out what actually happened and was delighted that Salvo finds a way to temper official justice with great humanity.

Salvo is woken by Catarella at six in the morning and is his usually khack handedness in explaining the situation. At first he is told the scooter of a young girl has been found and then when told the owner is missing Salvo is still not convinced it is a matter for himself and asked for Mimi and Fazio who are also at the scene which only underlines his reaction to getting the call. It is Mimi who has told Catarella to contact his boss and still unconvinced Montalbano challenges Mimi on arriving at the scene to be told the situation looks bad.

I am going to tell the story from the solution backwards. Many years ago the brother of the wife of the girl who has been kidnapped needed a huge amount of money which the family raised but never got back even when their daughter needed money to go away to study. The wife had become sick with the a situation in which despite their lovely home they had come to live on the pension of the husband and the help of his brother who had also loved the wife to the extent that he devoted his life to the couple and his niece rather than lead a separate life apart from his practice as a medical doctor.

Having rescued him the other uncle had turned his back on the family and having prospered was embarking on a political career. His sister’s health had continued to deteriorate, and she had taken to her bed and required 24 hour care shared by her husband and their daughter.

At first Salvo speculates that the daughter had run off unable to cope, perhaps a break down or perhaps she has found someone else other than her boyfriend who is studying law with the ambition to join the police force. Salvo is able to gradually to work out what I suspect from the outset that this was no real kidnapping but a staged action to gain revenge and destroy the reputation of the uncle who had betrayed them and destroyed the life of his sister.

The plan had been executed with the help of the brother doctor and the discrediting was successful and when the Commissario makes the point that he cannot allow them to keep the money the girl explains that it has already been distributed to a dozen international charities, Salvo who has said the visit is not officially is doubly pleased, to have his suspicions confirmed and by finding that the girl was well motivated and has an important future as she goes off to work for an international agency.

He had learned that the girl and the boyfriend did not have sex until the day she disappeared and that on returning to the family she had broken with the young man. Given that she made application for the welfare work months before Salvo knows that she had planned everything during the hours she had spent at her mother‘s bedside.

He had been able to trace where the girl had been kept by enlarge one of the photos which the alleged kidnappers had sent. This enabled him also to get to where the money had been replaced with newsprint notes before the media arrived and printed that the ransom had not been paid. In fact despite the publicity against the uncle would be politician, he had been contacted within moments of the kidnap and asked to pay the ransom which he was willing to do, especially as the kidnapped girl was a close friend of his daughter. The contact was made hours before the same demand was made to the father the girl. It was all fair and a good form of justice.

In the second of the second season episodes Equal Tine Montalbano is convinced hat what appears to have become a Mafia war because of killing is not what it seems but it is only late on the he appreciates there is a connection between the death and the disappearance of a girl from the Ukraine who had been living as a live in help to an elderly man. He had reported to her missing only a couple of days after she had not returned from her day off. We the viewers had seen that a girl with a scooter and been chased by two men in a car and appeared to have gone for help at a home of man living in an isolated cottage.

Catarella when out collecting snails which a relative cooked into a special dish for him then discovers the scooter which he brings into town. Later Salvo finds that on her day off she girl, Eva, had met up with two other economic migrants who express great concern for the welfare of their friend. By checking out the area where the scoot was found Salvo comes to the cottage and its owner who used to be called half witted but also harmless. It is Catarella who also puts Salvo on he train of what happened when he draws attention that although the cottage holder kept a couple of sheep the quantity of dropping suggests visits of a substantial number. In order to confirm the theory he arranges for one of the female friends of the missing girl to dress up exactly and Salvo bring the man and the girl together and from this the man confirms that a Shepherd who it is subsequently established is called the Puppeteer calls on his route around the hills with his flock, brings him cheese, bread and wine when staying the night and had had taken the girl with him as he had on a previous occasion in the instance of another girl from the area who had disappeared several years before. The unit track the Shepherd to his home where they come under fire and it is Catarella who kills the man before Salvo or other members the team are killed. The girl is found and is taken to hospital when he friends are with her. One of the friends gives to Salvo copies of photos she found in the girl’s underwater draw which reveal that he girl had been seeing a married member of a Mafia family the Bonspeniero’s that has started the Mafia War and which Salvo had major doubts.

The man had run a quarry business for his father and his wife tolerated his affairs with girls until in this instance it became serious and he wanted to leave her for the younger woman. What is then established is that the wife and used one of her men to kill her husband who was first hit on the head and then shot to make it look like a Mafia revenge killing. She had then made the mistake of ordering the death of the girl who recovers and is able to confirm the relationship and intention for them to be together with Salvo who summons the heads of the two Mafia families, he orders the man responsible for the original murder to give himself up and fort he wife to present herself at the police station for questioning. The man gives himself up, but the woman had to be arrested at the Quarry at which she had taken over its management. She commits suicide rather than be taken. I have thirteen of the fourteen books of those translated into English including the episode next week. There are two later books yet to be translated which included.

Downton Abbey Series 3 begins

I have watched the first three episodes of the series of Downton Abbey on ITV plus one hour on the past three Sunday evenings.

The main focus of the series so far is the threatened loss of Downton to the family because of a poor major investment on the part of his Lordship which means the estate will have to be sold and they move into a small established and a changed way of life. In those days the husband had complete control of his wife’s money until the Married Woman’s Property Acts from the mid 1920’s.

In the most recent episode there is an attempt to gain the support of the American mother of the Countess, played by Shirley McLain. She is outspoken and has no truck with the family’s way of life. Their main attempt to persuade involves holding a prestigious dinner party but the cooker breaks down and there is no hot food. She organises a buffet style picnic of cold meats cheeses breads and fruit. However she also discloses that she is unable to help because of the way her estate and income is tied up. Not surprisingly there has been a great scene of mutual contempt between MacLaine and Maggie Smith who plays Crawley’s mother, the Dowager Countess of Grantham

The only other alternative is to use the money from an estate which has come to the new husband of Lady Mary, Matthew, a third cousin once removed and therefore bears the same surname He would have inherited the estate upon the death of the Earl as the Earl has no son and the scheduled heir dies on the Titanic although someone posing as him appears in the second series disfigured from the First World War when part of the House is turned into a convalescent unit.

Matthew feels unable to take the substantial funds concerned because the money comes via his relationship with the young women with whom he was engaged and who nursed him when it looked he would spend the rest of his life in a wheel chair. She had then died from Spanish flu and out of guilt he felt he could not marry Lady Mary because his fiancée had found out he no longer loved her shortly before she be came ill and he felt that she had given up on life because of this. He recovers from disability and therefore there is no obstacle to the marriage and to having children.

Their marriage nearly does not take place because of his refusal to use the money to save Downton. While Lord and Lady Crawley appear resigned to the situation Lady Mary is now realising that her husband will not inherit the estate upon the death of her father. Before the wedding the youngest daughter of the Earl Sybil is invited to come with her husband, the former chauffer to the family and outspoken Irish Independence supporter. The dinner party is uncomfortable but it the husband who talks to Matthew and helps to ensure that the marriage goes ahead although there is no change between them the issue of accepting the inheritance.

The other subject above stairs concerns the second daughter who is attracted to Sir Anthony Strallen about twice the age if not more. Before the war he had planned to ask Edith to marry him but Mary had intervened because tradition was a second sister or son only married after the first. She persuades him not to ask to save him from rejection which is of course not true as her sister would have gladly accepted. On return from the War Sir Anthony has lost an arm and together with age this prevents him approaching Edith again although she sets her cap on him. He is invited to the special dinner for the mother of the Countess and is then persuaded to withdraw by the Earl but later he relents after pressure from his daughter and they agree to marry and announce their engagement and have a quick wedding.

A feature of this kind of programme is that life below stairs and so far there have only been three stories of any substance. In the last series the personal manservant to the Earl was convicted of the murder of his former wife and his wife now visits him in prison and attempts to find the evidence which will show that that her death was suicide faked as murder to incriminate her former husband. His place is taken on by the ambitious lying, cheating, stealing, and blackmailing Thomas who gets more than anyone’s fair share of chances and in this series he plays a dirty trick on the young valet to Matthew giving him the wrong substance to clean the dress jacket so that it has to be sent away to be repaired. That he does not possess another is absurd and there is great fuss because he wears a D, J instead. Other staff arrange for his lordships dress shirts to disappear so he too has to wear a DJ and then for the shirts to reappear. The valet also has to serve at table and is uncomfortable in the role have been hotel trained and is mocked. The main story is that of the housekeeper who finds a lump and goes for medical examination with the cook and where the first test comes back inconclusive. She is understandably worried and makes mistakes but ignores being told to rest and refuses to allow the cook to tell the Butler of her condition. Rumour has it her that she or someone well known as a cast member will die. It is difficult to see where the story will go unless the family are to face a great reality test and lose the Downton so what would he series be then called? Will continue to watch but not a priority.

Wiiliam Roache Who Do You think you are

I switched from watching Newcastle losing at Man United 2.0 in the League and all in glorious 3D to experience the ancestors of William Roache, the longest serving actor in a dramatic and comic serial entertainment in the UK, in the latest edition of Who Do you think you are? If he continues to play Ken Barlow in Coronation Street for the next couple of years he will become the longest performing actor in the same role anywhere having started in 1960. He served the army for his National Service and suffers from trinitus from a mortar explosion. The Wikipedia mentions that his paternal grandfather was a Freemason interested in spiritualism, theosophy, esotericism and homeopathy. There is no mention of his maternal grand mother and her husband and these were the subject of the programme. What was uncovered for him proved the most interesting of all the subjects to date and the way the programme was presented maintained interest from start to finish.

His grand mother had the Christian name of Zillah Waddicor and re remembered as a child visiting her at the restaurant and tea rooms she ran in part of Alton Towers in the 1930’s which she had commenced shortly after the large countryside home of the former Shrewsbury Family was sold. Revisiting the now derelict Country house he was able to remember the room where he placed on his tricycle. He discovered that in fact a quarter of a million people visited the gardens which local business had developed from the grounds of the estate and that his grand mother had owned and managed a business which could provide up to a thousand meals at a sitting with arrange of sixteen lunchtime menu meals from 2 to 4 shillings. She had then developed the Old Mill by the station into a second restaurant. She was of only a handful of women who owned and managed businesses of this size given that after World War 1 the emphasis was on finding “ bread winner” jobs for the men, something which was ingrained in working class politics until the later 1970‘s.

The second extraordinary story is that he then discovered that she and her husband had run a small shanty shop on the Golden mile at Blackpool selling ices and soft drinks. Somehow she made sufficient money from this business to open the business at Alton Towers although the programme failed to explore how she made the move, given that until then the business was in his her husband name. In fact it emerged that the great grandfather had also operated the shanty shop as a medical electrician using the new interest in electricity given that homes and street lights used gas to provide gentle shocks to the hands and arms which was believed to have a beneficial effect on nervous conditions. In addition he had practiced the cult of phonology reading the bumps of the head. He had done this until this kind of seaside business was banned by the local council. He had then moved into the purchase of properties now several used a hotels so that when he died he left an estate of over £4000 worth as much as half a million in today money and more in terms of property values.

The interesting aspect is that the Will left his estate to one of his three grand daughters and this was explained that she lived with him and not with her parents. William then was told that his own mother had gone to live with an aunt when she was only three months of age and this helped him to understand why he regarded her as a cold person unable to express feelings about and to him. The mystery of this appeared to be explained by family understanding that the grandfather who described himself as a gentleman in one census never participated in the subsequent business and was rarely spoken of within the family. The belief was that he drank alcohol excessively and the fact that two his children were almost immediately placed with relatives suggests that he was abusive/ violent or something which made his wife give up direct care of her children despite appearing to William as a kind and loving person as well as he now discovered an amazing business woman.

There were many more questions I would like to have answered but this remains the most interesting of the latest series so far. I can even forgive Roache for being a public supporter

Romanzo Criminale Episodes 1 and 2 of series two revised with episode 3

I have been able to catch up on episode three of Romanzo Criminale second series but to appreciate the significant developments I need to recap and revise what was written before. The fictitious crime drama series does follow actual events in Rome

’s crime history and the role of corrupt politicians, officials including the Security Services and secret bodies. The Crime gang whose history is featured in the two series was in fact a combination of two gangs of young men who dreamed of becoming big time and eventually controlled drug distribution throughout Rome, leading the high life of fast cars and gambling but also attempt to establish themselves through financial investments.

The first series ended with the leader of the combined group known as Lebanese who was rejected by his mother because of his criminality and is gunned down and suspicion falls on two brothers, why I cannot remember or if it was disclosed who killed him.

　

The first two episodes of the second and final series deals with the aftermath of the killing. Towards the end of series one Lebanese had become wild and unstable and with the second in command attempting to go straight because of a serious relationship with a young woman who had previously been the girl friend of his brother who he had worked hard to keep in college and out of trouble. The impact of the girl turning to Freddo led the brother to dropping out of higher education and taking drugs.

The death of Leban and the instinctive need for revenge results in Freddo abandoning plans to leave Rome with Roberta and to become unofficial leader. The gang are not members of the Mafia but have an arrangement as they have had with others including contact with the security services. What I am not sure is the extent to which Dandi the third of the most familiar of gang members was involved with a Mafia take over of Rome drug distribution. As his nickname suggests he is a young man with a liking for fine things especially Patrizia originally a high class beautiful whore but now runs a whore house for him with the help of her male gay companion so he can have her all to himself.

The complication is that the police detective Commissario Scialoja has a grand passion for her and she had shown interest in him. His hands are not clean and is regarded as a Communist sympathizer because his sister was part of a communist action group and who arranged to leave Italy when she was about to be arrested.

The Commissario picks up Freddo’s brother and holds him in jail knowing that there will be an attempt to get to him by enemies of Freddo and that Freddo will be forced into action. Freddo’s attempts to protect his brother in jail while he gets his lawyer to seek the release fails and the young man is beaten up and susceptible to pressure from the Commissario and agrees to wear a wire and attempt to trap his brother. This does not work and Freddo sends his brother packing.

Freddo is also at sixes and sevens with Roberta infuriating her when he abandons the trip away but she then gives him an alibi for the killing of one of the brothers thought responsible for Libanese‘s death. Later when she appears to waiver he sends her away knowing what he has to do and the likely implications, especially with the Commissario hot on his trail.

The second series opened with a flash back to how Libanese and two other formed the nucleus of their gang as boys. There is anger when they discovers that Libanese’s cars have gone and when they discover they have been taken by his father he is given the opportunity to save himself not by getting back the expensive ones but the Mini which they used in the early days. This is then pushed down a mountainside so that no one else can use the vehicle.

They also insist on the immediate liquidation of his assets in order to provide a funeral fit for a king but his mother rejects the money and one of his closest friends steals the coffin which he places in the best available so he and the other have a wake. They do this with special food and drink before returning the coffin to the mother and attending the formal funeral where the Commissioner also attends.

The police take the other brother to stop him being killed by the group and to test for evidence of his guilt but the secret power group delay returning the findings but let Freddo see a copy in order to enable the group to get their revenge and settle things. Freddo then agrees that Dandi as the driver and two other should undertake the assassination of the other brother once he is released from custody. When this starts to go wrong Dandi freezes from putting himself in the firing line to pick up the under fire other two who are wounded with one taken into custody. Dandi returns to Patrizia to lick his wounds having been approached to take over the gang by other interests. However he may not have bargained that one of the two others getting, an original friend and associate of Lebanese, getting away.

Freddo also tracks down to person who sold the brother the drugs and finds that she is a feisty female who points out the brother was an established addict in need and that she is best local distributor than all the others. Freddo’s makes enquiries and puts her in charge of the area previously managed by the Libanese much to the anger of another of the gang with whom the Roman group had previous problems.

In the third episode which moves the story significantly forward, the wounded Bufalo gets help and swears revenge of Dandi who abandoned them. This is backed up by the other member who is in police custody. Freddo refuses to sanction action against Dandi but instead orders him to kill the remaining brother in hospital. When the heavily guarded villain regains consciousness and looks as if he will survive the Police Commissario cuts a deal to save his life if he will provide evidence against Freddo and the rest of the Roman Gang, Her agrees but insists that neither he or his brother killed Lebanese. Freddo orders Dandi to take out the brother as his punishment and the price of protecting him against Bufalo. Dandi asks for help form I assume the Mafia (possibly his secret services) and they agree on the understanding that he will do a favour when next asked.

A fire at the hospital puts everyone including the police off guard and the murder suspect appears to have committed suicide jump out of the ward balcony. The Inspector had also failed to get direct help with the allocation of more men to watch the gang members in order to track down Bufalo. The Commissario presses the head of the anti drug squad to provide the men but they fail to provide anything of value except for a photo of the girl to Freddo and promoted within the crime organisation. They also provide a photo which shows a link between the Secret Services who stopped previous actions in communication with the gang. It is the Secret service who showed Freddo a file of a forensic test which appears to prove that the brother killed Leban. The episode ends with the admission that the forensic test was negative and they made up the report implicating the man who has now officially committed suicide.

The theme of second series is the disintegration of the gang following the death of Lebanese and because it is known that Freddo was on his way out and therefore lacks authority. Worse is to come when one of the gang resents that Freddo has appointed the girl to collect the money required to fund the next drug shipment because she is not yet known to the authorities as a gang senior. She hands over the money and then the man claims it is associates of her who stopped and rob him taking his credit card and other cash on him as well as haul.

When a transvestite attempts to use the credit card the gang member admits that he had gone with the individual for sex and was then held up by two obvious associates of her and only afterwards realised the extent of their haul. The Trans is found and taken and she reveals her companions who are shot in her presence but she is allowed to go to ensure everyone else knows what happens.

Bufalo manages to confront Dandi returning with Patrizia celebrating who quickly disarms his attacker, beats him up and leaves him to die in the street while he has sex with Patrizia.

　

　

The Borgias Season 2

 My impression is that the Neil Jordan two season series on the life of the Borgias family uses some facts and then explores the characters according to what makes good TV. This is a high performance production with a top level cast headed by Jeremy (Brideshead Revisited) Irons as the first Borgia Pope. Joanne Whalley plays his former mistress and mother of his two sons and daughter, the infamous Lucrezia played by the comparatively unknown but gorgeous Hollie Granger. Learning that she is also in recently released Anna Karennia may make me change my mind about seeing the picture after a less than flattering review by Dr Kermode. The French Canadian Francois Arnaud plays the Machiavellian Cesare Borgia and David Oaks the weak other son, Juan. Sean Harris plays Cesare’s hitman and Colm Feore as the Cardinal Guiliano dela Rovere whose mission is get rid of the Pope and his family. Steven Berkoff plays Savonarola with the fabulous Our Friends in the North Gina Mckee as the clever and determined Caterina Sforza. Derek Jacobi played a cameo role in the first series as a fictitious Cardinal, who plotted against Alexander Borgia and is poisoned by Cesare.

The second season commenced with Alexander in full power with his daughter and her child home after the disastrous arranged marriage with the Sforza’s. Against his will Cesare, a warrior at heart, is forced to play the devoted son and Cardinal, and a kind of consigliore to the Pope who manages his role better than most Mafia bosses. In the Borgial Bull Alexander is tempted by a young artist who has disguised herself as a boy while his mistress is way and he decides to gain popular support by hold a pagan celebration in the city. While hunting he has found a horde of art dedicates to pleasure which he places on show in the Vatican thus alienating genuine Christians among the church hierarchy further.

The father of Lucrezia’s child has made his way to Rome in Paolo He is allowed to spend one night with her and to see her child with the help of her mother and Cesare on condition that he then leaves Rome after which he is killed by Juan. The opening two episodes set the scene for the first of the two main stores of the series. In The Beautiful Deception, King Charles of France has been held in Naples caught up in the plague that wracks the city and determined to destroy Alexander support by the Sforza’s and set on the sack of Rome with their superior cannons. It is here that Cesare perpetrates he great bluff in which he creates look alike Cannon which he arms the walls of the city and then rides out to parley with the King and Sforza to persuade them to by pass the city which they do. Relations between Lucrezia and her father reach a new low when she learns of her death of her lover and persuades her father to give the young man a Christian burial which he performs.

In Stray Dogs

the celebrations of the retreat of the French are marred when Cesare discovers nuns raped and slaughters by a group of front line fighters led by Giovanni Sforza and ruthless revenge becomes his main objective. Cardinal Sforza petitions the Pope to unite Italy against the French so the Pope and his son with the Cardinal go North leaving Lucrezia in charge of Rome. A foretaste of what is to come. She uses the opportunity to find out about the city and its poor and the way the Cardinals misusing their position, using brothels and directs funds to enhance their positions and families. With the help of Court ladies she plots to tackle the abuses of power blackmailing the Cardinals into providing funds.

With the defeat of the French the series then moves to deal with he threat posed by Savonarola and Caterina Sforza with the Borgia family unaware of the plot developing to poison the Pope by replacing his food and drink taster. The role of Girolamo Savonarola 1452 to 1498 is faithfully recorded although from portraits he was a lean man compared to the plump performance of Fiore. Savonarola could be described as a Christian fundamentalist and or puritan who set about preaching against the excess of the Medici family and Florence and persuaded the citizens to drive them out, with the mob killing those who refused conform to the new order with his longer term and easy target the Borgias. Florence was to become the new Jerusalem and centre for Christian renewal and rebirth. He refused to join or support Pope Alexander’s Holy league against he French.

As a young man he had taken the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience of the Dominican order and almost as soon as he was educated he commenced to teach ethics, logic, philosophy and government and from this he became a travelling preacher seeking reform until in 1490 he was brought back to Florence where he commenced to make his criticisms of the of powerful ruling classes in Italy, particular the Papacy. He had his critics and in the series Cesare Borgia joins forces with Machiavelli in attempting to expose the limitation of man described as incompetent, ill prepared and an unarmed prophet in his great work of the black art of powers, The Prince, which I have a copy as well as a biography on its author. In the series the Pope visits Florence and discusses the threat poses by Savaronola with the Medici Family and Machiavelli, who subsequently assist Cesare with info and advice.

The suggestion is that the Pope first used Savonarola as a means of getting rid of the power of the Medici and their banking success and then developing a plan to get rid of the prophet when he refused to accept the overall authority of his Holiness. He denounces him and then excommunicates and eventually the man is brought to Rome tried, and burned. With the help of Machiavelli Cesare persuades the cleric to accept a test of fire himself after witnessing the burning of a woman as witch because she dared to disagree with the orthodoxy being enforced by the mob. Convinced of his righteousness Savonarola agrees but when he is forced to back from the flame the mob realises he is human and not a God and turn away from him enabling the Borgias to deal with him without an insurrection.

It is in the fifth episode of the 10 The Choice that the series gathers a momentum with Cesare sent to persuade the Sforza to also yield their allegiance to him. He tells Caterina she must come to Rome and kneel to his father or she will be brought in chains to him. When she refuses he seizes the opportunity to kill her brother the husband of Lucrezia, carrying out his promise to bring the heart of the man to her for the way he treated her. He also has a brief affair with Caterina although after killing her brother he has to take flight. This episode also shows Savonarola giving his support to those planning to assassinate the Pope although I do not think this is based on fact.

In Day of Ashes we learn how Alexander is to be assassinated as a pure boy is chosen to be trained. He is persuaded to take the very poison, cantarella which Della Rovere had survived and he persuades the young man to take repeated doses to establish immunity. It also at this point that the rivalry between the two sons begins to change into open resentment and conflict. From the outset Cesare was the warrior with brains who never wanted to be a priest, assassin or diplomat. His brother on the other wanted to be the warrior, to exploit the position and power gained from his father and to seek pleasure wherever it could found.

He had been sent off to Spain and on the return is again put in charge of the Papal army and using some of the money stolen from the Medici who tried to take abroad to hide the Pope agreed he should take the city of Caterina Sforza in the 7^th episode the Siege of Forli. he captures her son, tortures the boy and threatens to the kill the young man if she does not yield. She proclaims that she will produce more sons but will not yield. She also has arranged for assistance and in the subsequent battle Juan is wounded and runs off believing that his hostage has been killed and there is no one to reveal the truth of what happened.

Cesare gains knowledge of what happens and also the boy who survives. He releases the boy to his mother as a gesture seeking peace and then ensures that his father learns he truth of his other sons attempt deception. Juan is wracked with pain from his injury and has been diagnosed with syphilis

When Cesare admitted to his father that he had killed Lucrezia’s former husband, Alexander determined that he would marry his daughter once more to achieve a new alliance. This time he would leave his daughter to make the choice guided by her mother ands a succession of suitors arrived in Rome and in Truth and Lies her mother advises that she should marry one suitor because of his position and use to the family while taking his artist brother as her lover who is her preference. In World of Wonders having slept with the brother before any wedding the betrothed announces to the Pope that he cannot go ahead with the marriage because his brother wants to marry the girl. Both leave Rome. Juan takes opium to relieve his pain. Faced with the deteriorating behaviour of the brother who insist on clinging to his position as head of the Papal army Cesare and his aide track him to the opium den and lure him to a bridge where he is killed and dumped into the river

In the final episode of series Savonarola is tortured into a confession which he refuses so one is forged and he is then burned at the stake. When Juan body is discovered the Pope refuses to sanction his burial until the killer is found and this prompts Cesare into confessing his guilt and pleads for forgiveness. Alexander is full of remorse at he way he treated both his son and buries Juan in the grounds with his bare hands saying mass over him. Meanwhile Cesare is hold a dance party to mark the decision of Lucrezia who has accepted a suitor but makes he comments about dancing on the grave her brother. As father and his remaining son talk over what has happened they take wine which has been poisoned and the carefully planted new taster, after the trusted Cardinal with the task has been murdered, appears to die along with the Pope but we are left with the uncertainty and I was struck with the similarity between this series ending and that of George Gently covered yesterday.

Gorge Gently episodes 2 to 4 2012 season

I was more impressed by The Lost Child, the third of he four George Gently’s which deals with adoption and parenthood and where I have knowledge of the position of Adoption Agencies at this time, dominated in the North East by those managed for the Church of England and the Catholic Church in the North East, both locked in tradition but nevertheless providing a high quality service.

In this episode a child is snatched from its home while cared for by the father turns out to have been adopted thus focussing on a society which appears to have run by one woman (Mrs Dunwoody played by the excellent Alison Steadman) without the usual committee and other controlling influences although in fairness the organising sector/ director could be a powerful person if they were long standing and respected member of the community. The child is eventually recovered but returned to its single parent mother and not the couple.

For a time suspicion about the fate of the baby had focussed on the adopting father because he had not wanted a child so late in their married lives and had insisted on the girl rather than a twin brother because a girl would mean his role would less than that with a son. Suspicion then rightly falls on the young man who had been meeting his wife in secret but he turns out to be the first child of the woman, a son who she had placed for adoption when the father, the subsequent husband had gone to war and it appeared would not be returning. The odd aspect here is how the young man was able to trace his mother because it was not until 1975 that adopted people when aged 18 years could commence to locate their natural parents.

The young man had wanted to be introduced to his father but the mother played by the brilliant actress Helen Baxendale had been worried at the implications of her decision. The young man is accidentally killed from a blow struck by the Sergeant when attempting to arrest him and rescue the baby.

The episode provides the opportunity to explore Bacchus the parent now that his wife had divorced him and living with a new partner and the relationship that he has with his father, with the brutal and telling sentence (You were never much of as a son, but you are a spectacularly useless dad). However after the death he is able to turn to his father for solace.

For Gently his attention is on the adoption society and the way it is run forcing the mothers to agree to adoption and taking sums from prospective couples as voluntary charitable donations. An earlier sub story is that the husband had an affair and nearly, left his wife at one point and the role of an assistant at the hone who had been a young mother forced to give up a child and now lives with the mother of the twins placed for adoption and who blows the whistle on her employer.

The fourth and possible the last of Gently series, although having moved the filming to Northumbria it is difficult to accept this is so. In Gently in the Cathedral his history within the Metropolitan Police comes back to haunt him when he left having accused several colleagues of being career criminals. This is now well documented and covered particularly in the series Our Friends in the North. I became aware of the situation through a young former constable I knew who moved to the North East because of the situation in London. However it is the fact that he has put away a Northern based criminal for ten years that is the catalyst which leads to a young policeman being murdered and dressed as suicide because of alleged corruption because he came across the getting rid of a London based detective who had come north to investigate a criminal racket with ties between London and the North East.

The imprisoned man gains his freedom when evidence is first provided that Gently had falsified evidence to convict and that he is corrupt and then implicated in the death of the London detective when a weapon found at his home is that used to kill the undercover man and there is also a link between the constable who is said to have committed suicide and Gently. The case is so strong that Gently is placed in prison and then an attempt made on his life after his release achieved by the female Defence Counsel who got the villain released who then provides a refuge for Gently after he is wounded and it is her factotum who perishes to the assassins bullet. There is the suggestion of a serious relationship between her and Gently if he survives the challenges facing him

What of Sergeant Bacchus in all this? He is already on his way to the Met as he thinks when he is invited to attend an interview. He is told that Gently stopped his previous efforts by a reference which said he was too impressionable, fearing he would become corrupted by the evil forces there.

When he goes to London he finds that there is no job yet and that they wanted him to be the inside man on the team to get Gently. The episode provides an opportunity for the former Morse Detective Sergeant Lewis, now Inspector Lewes, and Kevin Whately to have an important role as a man forced out of the Met into retirement because of his alleged concerns about corruption and who now also lives in the North in retirement. He calls on Gently to give support and leave him a gun for self protection. He is therefore the man to fit him for the murder and for corruption Gently realises he has misjudged the man when he visits and finds that he is living in a palatial home with staff. Later he learns it is Wheatley who the man pulling all the strings once he realised the London detective is on to him.

Gently goes on the run and the London team press Bacchus who although begins to have doubts about the situation into revealing where Gently could be hiding out. This is with his former wife and her family and his suspicion and that that of the London team appears confirmed when they find she is leaving her home with lots of food and other supplies. The family are in fact going on holiday to rented property. The second idea is the widow of the framed policeman who had discovered the disposing of the body of the London detective. Gently has been camping rough nearby and coming to her home in Northumberland for supplies.

It is here there the first of two confrontations when Bacchus and one of the London team realise that their leader and another are the villains and responsible for the murder of their colleagues as well as framing George. There is a shoot out in which the London men are all killed and Gently leaves Bacchus unarmed to clear up the mess while he goes off after the villain who framed him, still concerned at the loyalty and potential behaviour of his sergeant.

Calling at the hotel where the man he is staying who he believes is in charge of developments he is given a message to meet in the Cathedral in Durham City. Bacchus also arrives at the hotel unarmed and both his arrival alone and unarmed is a possible flaw in the storyline although another view is that he wants to make amends for his previous doubts and giving assistance to villains within the police force. He checks the room and finds the villain shot in the end. We the audience know that the real villain, the boss, is the former Detective who posed as his friend and ally, something I suspected early on, especially when having said he would walk all the way with George he was immediately absent when his trap was sprung.

　

There is an extraordinary finale in which Whately uses a high power riffle to shoot at George in the Cathedral with bullets sprayed into objects of art and religious icons. The episodes and series ends with all three appearing mortally wounded with Bacchus telling George he was on his side and George apologising for leaving him without a gun.