• Air date: 12 Jan '86 6 episodes
      La Piovra is an acclaimed Italian Television drama miniseries about the Mafia. The story was by Sandro Petraglia. The production was designed by Luigi Perelli. The soundtrack was by Riz Ortolani and later by Ennio Morricone, who went on to compose music for several sequels. All 10 series have been released in Australia on DVD by Aztec International Entertainment, with English subtitles, having been originally aired on the Special Broadcasting Service television channel. It was also broadcast on MHz Networks in the United States. The first three series were shown in the UK on Channel 4. The TV drama was wildly successful in the USSR, where it appeared on state TV in 1986 and in Bulgaria, where is also appeared in the end of the 1980s bg:Октопод, offering to the viewers of both countries thrills and dark drama from beyond the Iron Curtain. La Piovra was also shown in 1987–1988 in communist Albania, where it became a huge hit and remains to date a cult film, whose characters and...
  • List of Episodes (6)
    • 1. Paola

      12 Jan '86
      Police Inspector Cattani fights a losing battle to save his loved daughter's sanity, after what she suffered (see "La Piovra", original mini-series). He loses her, and his only trusted magistrate in the fight against The Octopus.
    • 2. Friends in Common

      13 Jan '86
      Cattani is approached by the Number 2 of his best friend in Rome to conspire against him, and ends up fighting for his life in prison, against thugs who are friends of his worst enemy. Cattani must swallow his pride, and recurs to the lustful Contessa who has other friends in common.
    • 3. Return to Rome

      19 Jan '86
      Cattani's love life is as confused as his behaviour; he sleeps with the enemy, and is recruited to ITALA, the cultural association for the study of the ancestral popular traditions of Italy, The Octopus by another name.
    • 4. Vengeance

      20 Jan '86
      It leaves an acrid taste in Cattani's mouth, as he loses yet another important ally, and severes his ties with the beautiful Contessa, when he wakes up fire in enemy ground.
    • 5. Criminal Ambition

      26 Jan '86
      Cattani's major achievement so far leaves him without friends in Rome; his former teacher explains between whiskeys how easy it is for an intelligent man to fall into criminal ambition.
    • 6. Destiny

      27 Jan '86
      Cattani's takes one year leave without pay from his desk job at the Intelligence Services, and then destiny presents him with a couple of revenge opportunities against the tandem of corrupt politicians and mafia expatriates, again at heavy personal cost.