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The series, called simply "1992" after the year the so-called
Bribesville scandals came to light in Milan, aims to tap into
the recent boom in big budget TV series like Game of Thrones and
House of Cards.
The first episodes aired on Tuesday got more viewers than the
debut of Gomorra, the gritty story of Naples mob violence
inspired by Roberto Saviano's book that soon acquired a cult
following in Italy and was sold to more than 50 countries.
1992, like Gomorra, is made by News Corp's Italian pay-TV unit
Sky Italia. It is already being broadcast by Sky in Britain,
Germany, Austria and Ireland and has also been sold to France
and Spain.
The series, which got positive reviews at this year's Berlin
Film Festival, had a more mixed reception after its debut in
Italy. Some critics alleged historical inaccuracies connected
with the "Clean Hands" investigations led by prosecutor-turned
politician Antonio Di Pietro.
However, the fast-moving series, containing racy sex scenes and
populated by ruthless business executives and stop-at-nothing TV
starlets, is only loosely based on the Clean Hands
investigations and trials.
It focuses on the political and social context of the time, with
the collapse of the Christian Democrat Party that had ruled
Italy uninterrupted since World War Two and its Socialist
allies, and the rise of the pro-autonomy Northern League.
Never far from the action is Silvio Berlusconi's advertising
company Publitalia, which recruits an ambitious marketing
manager, one of the drama's key characters, to prepare the
ground for Berlusconi's triumphant entry into politics.
Despite the high hopes raised by the Clean Hands trials Italy
has made little progress in fighting corruption.
The last year has seen arrests of politicians and businessmen
over graft allegations connected with the 2015 Expo in Milan, a
5 billion euro Venice flood barrier and contracts awarded by the
city of Rome.
Last week Infrastructure Minister Maurizio Lupi resigned over
alleged corruption in public works contracts. Italy ranked 69th
in Transparency International's 2014 Corruption Perceptions
Index, joint last in the European Union with Bulgaria, Greece
and Romania.
Di Pietro said on Wednesday that 1992 failed to tell how his
efforts to clean up Italy had been blocked by politicians.
"Let's hope that is told by the historians, this is only
fiction," he said.
(Reporting By Gavin Jones; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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