Scripted

May 2026 featured a varied scripted line-up on Italian television, with Rai 1 focusing on domestic drama, TV movies and branded romantic comedies, while Canale 5 strengthened its offer with Spanish and Turkish series.

Thursday, May 7
Rai 1 – Detective Drama Series – Buonvino - Misteri a Villa Borghese
3.355 million viewers / 20.3% share

Rai 1 premiered Buonvino - Misteri a Villa Borghese, a detective drama produced by Rai Fiction and Palomar and starring Giorgio Marchesi. Set in Rome, the series follows vicequestore Giovanni Buonvino, a principled and gentle police officer who, after a professional mistake, is assigned to lead the apparently quiet police station of Villa Borghese.

Sunday, May 17
Rai 1 – TV Movie – Lapponia I Love Iù
2.259 million viewers / 13.9% share

Rai 1 aired Lapponia I Love Iù, the Italian title of the international TV movie A Midnight Sun Affair. Directed by Ken-Are Bongo, the Italian-Finnish co-production stars Erasmo Genzini, Nicolò Galasso, Gennaro Lucci and Sissi Jomppanen. Distributed by Norse Key Distribution, the film is available both as a 1x100’ TV movie and as a 4x25’ series. It's a romantic comedy with road movie elements, following Carmine, a small-time hustler from Naples who inherits a cabin in Finnish Lapland from his late brother. To claim it, he must live there for two months. In the Arctic North, he faces cultural clashes, family secrets and an unexpected romance with a young reindeer herder.

Thursday, May 21
Rai 1 – Italian TV Movie – Un Futuro Aprile
2.219 million viewers / 14.4% share

Rai 1 broadcast Un Futuro Aprile, an Italian TV movie inspired by the true story of the 1985 Pizzolungo mafia massacre. Produced by Rai Fiction and Elysia Film and starring Francesco Montanari, the film follows the intertwined emotional paths of survivor Margherita Asta and judge Carlo Palermo, the target of the attack. It tells the story of the Pizzolungo massacre through the eyes of those who survived and those who continued to fight against organized crime. The film combines personal grief, civil memory and the long struggle for justice.

Sunday, May 24 and Sunday, May 31
Rai 1 – TV Movie Cycle – Purché finisca bene
Cercasi tata disperatamente: 2.137 million viewers / 13.6% share
Meglio tardi che mai: 1.917 million viewers / 14.2% share

Rai 1 continued its romantic comedy cycle Purché finisca bene with two new titles produced by Pepito Produzioni in collaboration with Rai Fiction. The two films share a light, family-oriented tone and common themes such as love, second chances, personal redemption and the possibility of starting over.

Cercasi tata disperatamente, directed by Laura Chiossone, stars Elena Radonicich and Giorgio Pasotti. It follows Marta Sironi, a 35-year-old aspiring comedian who, after losing both work and housing, reinvents herself as “Frau Klara”, a strict and highly qualified German nanny hired by a widowed father struggling with his two children.

Meglio tardi che mai, directed by Giuseppe Curti, stars Lorenzo Richelmy, Mariana Lancellotti and Emanuela Grimalda, with the special participation of Sergio Assisi.

Tuesday, May 26
Canale 5 – Spanish Drama Series – Un Nuovo Inizio
2.147 million viewers / 15.1% share

Canale 5 premiered the Spanish drama Un Nuovo Inizio, the Italian title of Entre Tierras. Starring Megan Montaner, the series is produced by Atresmedia Studios and Boomerang TV and is a loose adaptation of the Italian Rai 1 miniseries La Sposa. Set in Francoist Spain in the 1960s, the drama follows María, a young Andalusian woman forced into a marriage by proxy with a wealthy landowning family.

Friday, May 29
Canale 5 – Turkish Drama Series – L’Erede
1.828 million viewers / 15.6% share

Canale 5 launched the Turkish drama L’Erede, produced by Mediapim. The series follows Serhat Yelduran, a successful surgeon who has escaped his family’s expectations by building a life in Istanbul. When he is forced to return to Şanlıurfa because of his father’s illness, he becomes trapped again in the traditions, conflicts and arranged alliances of his family.