V for Vendetta is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd. Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing serial in the British anthology Warrior, its serialization was completed in 1988–89 in a ten-issue colour limited series published by DC Comics in the United States. Subsequent collected editions were typically published under DC's specialized imprint, Vertigo, until that label was shut down in 2018. Since then it has been transferred to DC Black Label. The story depicts a dystopian and post-apocalyptic near-future history version of the United Kingdom in the 1990s, preceded by a nuclear war in the 1980s that devastated most of the rest of the world. The Nordic supremacist, neo-fascist, outwardly Christofascistic, and homophobic fictional Norsefire political party has exterminated its opponents in concentration camps, and now rules the country as a police state.
Michael Dibdin was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy.
Rufus Frederik Sewell is a British actor. In film, he has appeared in Carrington (1995), Hamlet (1996), Dangerous Beauty (1998), Dark City (1998), A Knight's Tale (2001), The Legend of Zorro (2005), The Illusionist (2006), Amazing Grace (2006), The Holiday (2006), Paris, je t'aime (2006), The Tourist (2010), Judy (2019), The Father (2020), and Old (2021).
Lloyd Rose is an American writer most associated with her work on various Doctor Who spin-offs. She has also written for the American television series Homicide: Life on the Street and Kingpin. She often jokes in her biographies that her name is the pen name of a writer called Sarah Tonyn, although she has not had any professional writing published under this name.
Ratking is a 1988 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the first book in the popular Aurelio Zen series, introducing readers to the Italian police commissario's morally shady world. On publication it won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for fiction.
Cabal is a 1992 novel by Michael Dibdin and the third entry in the Aurelio Zen series.
Dead Lagoon is a 1994 novel by Michael Dibdin and is the fourth in his Aurelio Zen series. It was published by Faber & Faber in the UK and by Pantheon Books the following year in the US.
Cosi Fan Tutti is a novel by Michael Dibdin published by Faber and Faber in 1996. The fifth in his Aurelio Zen series, it is set in Naples. One strand of the plot plays on the storyline of the Mozart comic opera Così fan tutte; in addition, the chapter titles are all taken from the Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto for that opera.
A Long Finish is a 1998 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the sixth entry in the Aurelio Zen series.
Blood Rain is a novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the seventh in the Aurelio Zen series. It was published in 1999 by Faber & Faber. In it Zen, an Italian police detective, is pitted against the Sicilian Mafia and at the end is the subject of a bombing attack for political reasons.
And Then You Die is a 2002 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the eighth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen series.
Medusa is a 2003 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the ninth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen series about an Italian police detective.
Back to Bologna is a 2005 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the tenth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen series.
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism notable for its emphasis on practice and experiential wisdom.
End Games is a 2007 novel by Michael Dibdin. It is the 11th and last entry in the Aurelio Zen series.
Left Bank Pictures is a British film and television production company owned by Sony Pictures Television. It was formed in 2007 and was the first British media company to receive investment from BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC.
Timothy Williams is a bilingual British author who has written six novels in English featuring Commissario Piero Trotti, a character critics have referred to as a personification of modern Italy. Williams' books include Black August, which won a Crime Writers' Association award. His novels have been translated into French, Italian, Danish, Russian, Bulgarian, Polish, and Japanese.
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 (1990), Cabal (1992) and Ratking (1988). 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.
The Last Sherlock Holmes Story is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche novel by Michael Dibdin. The novel is an account of Holmes's attempt to solve the Jack the Ripper murders.
