THE detective created by former Oxford author Michael Dibdin, who died three years ago, is to feature in a new TV series Zen this autumn.
Italian policeman Aurelio Zen, who battled corruption and violence from Perugia and Florence to the Alps and Sicily, is to be played by Rufus Sewell.
It is being produced by the team behind the award-winning Wallander.
Mr Sewell said: “I am thrilled to be a part of this project, with the opportunity to play such an intriguing, complex and likeable character.”
Ben Stephenson, controller of BBC drama commissioning, said: “I hope Michael Dibdin’s books will captivate audiences.”
Mr Dibdin wrote most of the books in Oxford, where he moved after four years teaching English in Italy, having met his second wife Sybil Sheringham, who still lives in Oxford.
He lived in Hurst Street, then Headington Quarry, dividing his time between writing and working on dictionaries for Oxford University Press.
He introduced readers to Zen in 1988 with Ratking, which won the Crime Writers' Association’s Golden Dagger.
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