Streaming series review - Stucky

Stucky ***1/2 (out of 5) Among all the European TV crime and procedural series I’ve covered, this one most closely resembles one of ours. The title character, Stucky (Giuseppe Battiston), is their version of Lt. Columbo. He’s a similarly rumpled police detective in Treviso – a small, picturesque city in northern Italy. I’m not sure if they mentioned it by name, but it was such a lovely setting that I had to look up the location for the shoot.

Stucky’s main variance from our beloved Lieutenant C. is his large shaggy beard.But he’s always looking like he just reluctantly and hastily rolled out of bed, wearing the same well-worn raincoat and smoking the stub of a cigar. (I just realized I don’t think I’ve ever seen either of them with a full-length, fresh from the wrapper stogie. When do they ever smoke the first half?) Though less irritating to the suspects than Columbo, he does share the persistence, the scribbling of notes on disorganized scraps of paper and the habit of pausing when they think he’s leaving to apologetically ask “just one more question…”

This debut (I hope) season is six episodes – each with a new crime to be solved. The pilot is 90 minutes; the rest, 60. We share more screen time with him, his two assistants and the medical examiner, but learn little about any of them. Stucky does spend a lot of time eating in the café of his pal, Guerra (Alessio Pratico), and seems to get more insights from chatting with him than with his colleagues. As in our analog, we always see the crime being committed at the get-go, then watch for the mistakes or clues that will be the killers’ undoing, building up to our hero’s “aha moment” and the big “reveal”. There’s not much in the way of on-screen action. It’s all about the mind games.

The show is based on a series of 10 (so far) novels by Fulvio Ervas, who readily acknowledges the influence of Columbo on his character and story structure. It’s an homage, not a ripoff. Though I haven’t read them, I understand the books have him based in nearby Venice and going to various surrounding towns on different cases. Putting everything in Treviso and its environs probably saved a fortune in production costs and logistics, without sacrificing the pleasing backdrop of urban canals and buildings rife with old-world charm.

As in our shows like Columbo or Murder She Wrote, the killings are generally by and/or among the upper classes. Rich folk having rich folks' troubles. Wealthy families’ business and estate squabbles, rebellious children doing defiantly illegal things; one involves art theft and forgery. Another revolves around a surgeon whose career is threatened by things going wrong on his operating table. Unlike most TV cops, Stucky barely looks at the victims when he gets to the crime scene; his focus is always elsewhere. Even when the camera takes us to the morgue, we rarely even glimpse the body. The Medical Examiner, Marina (Barbora Bobulova), explains the important findings to him and us at the same time.

The series is relatively light-hearted, with Stucky delivering occasional wisecracks. The background music sets an almost playful tone, reminiscent of Hitchcock’s more comedic mysteries and scenes – especially his underrated gem, The Trouble with Harry. If you’re interested enough in the genre to have read this far, and haven’t seen that movie, put it at the top of your to-do list.

There’s plenty of basis for this series to continue, ideally expanding the roles of the other regulars as we spend more time with them. Valerio Attanasio, as director and main writer, has set the stage for a franchise that should have some legs. Keep ‘em coming, dude! You’re off to a good start.

(Stucky, in Italian with subtitles, streams on MHz Choice as of 7/21/26)