In Italy: Aired on Rai 1 in March
In the UK: Acquired by the BBC
There’s a certain irony that while Netflix is introducing the rest of the world to foreign TV shows made in their native languages and in their own styles, national broadcasters in Europe are still keen on “the international co-production”. These have been around for ages and basically involve two or more big broadcasters from different countries getting together to make a production. They pack the cast with their own native talent… then force them all to speak English. They then simultaneously water down the script for “international tastes” – in other words, strip it of anything that won’t translate easily into other languages or cultures.
Rai 1 (Italy) and Tele München Gruppe (Germany)’s Il nome della rosa (The Name of the Rose) may be an advance on that standard formula and a definite cut above the average co-production of yore, but it’s also something that feels like it’s been stripped of flavour to suit “international tastes”.
