THE ITALIAN JOB! 'ROMANZO CRIMINALE' SEASON TWO

Very armed and very dangerous. The re-formed, but certainly not reformed, cast of ROMANZO CRIMINALE 2. Image: TF1.

They may have lost their leader-the thuggish but clever Libanese, a victim of his own successful ambitions, and massive amounts of drug taking, as the head of Rome's most dangerous and volatile street gang turned crime cartel- but that won't stop the other members of his in and out of loyalty crew picking up where things left off in filling his power vacuum, restoring their credibility against swooping rivals, and in getting bloody revenge for the slaying of the man they once called their "brother".

Mixing late seventies swing with brutal face-smashing violence, the ultra stylish, based on a true story, ROMANZO CRIMINALE returns to the UK's SKY ARTS 1 channel from next Tuesday with a unique and compellingly original flavour all of its own. Last year, by the end of its acclaimed premiere run, written by Giancarlo De Cataldo, we saw the series go ever darker in terms of storytelling, and this promises to be a season taking things up further with the blunt force trauma of a loaded shotgun, packed full of spiralling betrayal, passion, sex and murderous incident, as the gang of never-to-be heroes, including notable series leads Vinicio Marchioni as the now returned to the fold leader, Il Fredo, Daniela Virgilio as the almost heartless but stylish hooker/madame, Patrizia, and Alessandro Roja as her out of control Dandy, continue their viewer addictive exploits in and out of Italy's history laden streets. It's a crime dynasty that looks seemingly unstoppable, though big moustached detective Scialoja,  played by Marco Bocci, following them through their era of damage, corruption and body bags, may yet have an ace up his sleeve against them...

Will this band of savage entrepreneurs finally get their just deserts, either from law enforcement or their as-dangerous associates? Or will crime really pay? Stay tuned...