The time has come to renew the TV license and I am feeling extremely resentful. I know that in England the quality of TV has deteriorated too (in fact it’s a ‘world spread’ phenomena) but you really do resent paying money for the diet of rubbish that is inflicted upon the most easily brainwashed mind. In comparison with England the TV licence is relatively cheap at around Euro:100 for a year and viewers are gently cudgoled into paying with the advertisement of gradually extending deadlines. This is Italy remember…it’s not that rules are made to be broken but they are at least negotiable on occasion.

The latest pathetic offering was called ‘Io Non Dimentico’ starring Manuela Arcuri, whose career has been forged as a consequence of her bosom rather than any artistic skill as an actress. I felt embarrassed for the excellent internationally acclaimed actor Giancarlo Giannini, who had very little to do but wait to pick up his ample pay check. The acting, plot and dialogue were so absolutely awful that it was compulsive viewing. My excuse in enjoying these terribly melodramatic and badly acted dramas is to learn Italian… This excuse is not going to hold up forever though. I’m not saying that there aren’t decent dramas on at times but these are more the exception than the rule. Canale 5 offered a beautiful interpretation of the story of St. Francis of Assisi at Christmas called simply ‘Francesco’, which was very moving and carried on the spirit of the original 1970’s Zeffirelli version.

At the moment mafia dramas seem to be very popular. I am eagerly awaiting one soon to be aired entitled ‘L’ultimo Padrino’ (‘The Last Godfather’). I don’t expect it will be a patch on the famous Godfather trilogy films mind. There was a fairly decent one aired recently called ‘Onore e Rispetto’ (‘Honour and Respect’) which proved a bit more realistic and substantial than many of the more soapy dramas that you see regarding such a serious subject.

There are a plethora of police dramas that are generally not too bad on the whole. Probably the most entertaining is ‘Commissario Montalbano’ which is set in Sicily and details the private and public life of the Commissario of the same name. A friend of mine informs me that you can pick up the novel in English which is at least a start in understanding the storylines before you attempt to watch in Italian.

If you’re attempting to learn Italian and you can get RAI (which is the equivalent of our BBC) via satellite it’s not a bad idea to try to watch Italian dramas with subtitles in English to start with. Then as you improve you can change to Italian subtitles. It took me a ridiculous amount of time before I removed my psychological stabilisers and went cold turkey without subtitles of any description. Even now I don’t understand everything but sometimes there’s something to be said for ignorance…with bad TV it can be bliss!