Zen is a British television series produced by
Left Bank Pictures for the
BBC, co-produced with
WGBH Boston for its
Masterpiece anthology series,
Mediaset and
ZDF. It stars
Rufus Sewell and
Caterina Murino and is based on the
Aurelio Zen detective novels by
Michael Dibdin. The series was filmed on location in Italy, but the dialogue is in English. The series, which comprises three 90-minute films, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sunday evenings from 2 January 2011 on
BBC One. The three films were based on the books
Vendetta,
Cabal and
Ratking. The series was cancelled by BBC One in February 2011; BBC One controller
Danny Cohen later said there were already enough male crime-fighters on TV. Left Bank, the show's producer, tried to find other broadcasters to fund another series but were unsuccessful.