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...

THE REAL GOODFELLAS: "ROMANZO CRIMINALE"

The world is not enough for the Banda della Magia crime cartel in the epic Italian series ROMANZO CRIMINALE. Image: SKY ITALIA/CATTLEYA

Wanting a piece of the unique success pie that the BBC and CHANNEL 4 have shared in acquiring ground breaking foreign dramatic TV series, it's now SKY ARTS 1 HD's turn, as the channel exclusively bring us the lavish and highly acclaimed Italian crime drama ROMANZO CRIMINALE, starting tonight at 9pm.

Based on a popular book by Judge and screenwriter Giancarlo De Cataldo, and following on from an equally successful movie adaptation, this 1970's set true story tells the terrifying and bloodthirsty genesis of a notorious and highly dangerous Italian crime family, the Banda della Magia, who brought terror to their home country from within their base foothold in Rome: its society- almost family- members responsible for some of the most shocking and brutal acts ever committed at that time, ranging from extortion, drug trafficking, assassination, kidnappings, high stakes robberies and even terrorism. It's an empire that starts with just one man, simply known as The Libanese, whose dreams of power, and being at the top of the tree of the Italian crime dominion, come to fruition with the help of a motley, but no less equally fear inducing group of "talents" aiding him in his dreams (two of which are his childhood friends), within a heady and evocative backdrop world of the 1970s-meticulously realized by the shows production team in all its decadent high society mixed with ancient iconoclasm- of nightclubs and discos, drugs and women. Along the way, his band of unmerry men become icons of the very worst kind and are seemingly unconvictable whilst their bribery and corruption seeps into the very heart of the Italian justice and police systems trying to catch them. Even more shocking, the country's own Secret Service try to acquire them for specialized work!

Trailer: Romanzo Criminale la serie Trailer HD - YouTube

As the most successful TV series ever made in its home country, will ROMANZO CRIMINALE live up to the hype and achieve the same kind of kudos and popularity in the UK? Well, with a consistent cult film and TV audience that has lived and thrived on gangster epics like THE SOPRANOS, THE GODFATHER and GOODFELLAS, it has more than a strong chance of doing so and keeping such antagonists in firm demand for concrete overcoats. If slightly macabre, viewers continued interest and fascination in crime empires, and the extraordinarily evil people who live and die within them, looks unlikely to goes out of fashion...