First broadcast in Italy in 1984, The Octopus (La Piovra) is an international blockbuster, running 18 years and producing nine follow-up series. The title of this classic Mafia thriller says it all, evoking the image of a secret criminal culture extending its tentacles into every layer of society. Ultimately shot on three continents, The Octopus brings scope and sophistication to the story of an old battle and shows the cost men and women pay when they stand up to the injustice of organized crime.

In Series 7, Judge Silvia Conti finds herself caught between warring factions of rival Mafia clans as she seeks to discover the truth behind the murder of her former lover, Police Inspector Corrado Cattani. Another face from the past returns in the form of the Countess Olga Camastra, who has in her possession a list of Mafiosi names and secret account numbers a list the Mafia hierarchy desperately wants back. And one man in exile, seeing an opportunity, plots his revenge and return to power…

Series 8 and 9 take us back fifty years, to a time when the ruthless Don Pietro engineers his rise to power. Will Don Pietro s protégé, a young boy named Tano, follow his own conscience or will he too be corrupted by the force of the Mafia? In Series 10 we move to the present, where an aging and solitary Tano Cariddi lives in self-imposed exile on the slopes of Mount Etna. Deputy Prosecutor Silvia Conti has also retired, living a quiet life with her husband. The time has come for these two old enemies to face a final reckoning…