Review of The Young Montalbano

I enjoyed reading Mouthbox's review almost as much as the programme, but it's clear he doesn't know many Italians if he thinks the obsession with food and eating is unusual. It isn't. I thought that the casting of Michele Riondino was inspired. It needed an actor you hadn't seen before to inhabit a part already made famous by someone else. I wish I felt the same about the actor chosen to play the young Mimi Augello. Don't know if the following counts as a spoiler, but better safe than blacklisted # While he convinces as a charming Lothario can the casting team explain how someone with fair hair and blue eyes should have brown eyes and almost jet black hair in their youth? It rankles and detracts from Alessio Vassallo's performance which is very good. Another poss spoiler # Don't waste too much time fretting about Mery (I agree, very annoying character) as we are soon introduced to the delightful Livia. At least this time they managed to cast an actress who can speak Italian. It was very disconcerting watching the previous programmes with the Luca Zingaretti Montalbano and realising that HIS Livia was speaking another language (it looked like English) and being dubbed into Italian! Having watched almost all the episodes of this series my fervent hope is that they make some more