Two years ago he entered Italian homes, and thanks to his kindness and goodness, he has never left. Don Matteo has become one of the most popular and beloved characters ever to appear on Italian television. And since this summer, also abroad: the star Terence Hill and the producer Alessandro Jacchia won awards at the prestigious International Television Festival in Monte Carlo, for best actor in and best producer of a television series, respectively. The new Raiuno television season starts on September 27 with Don Matteo, the priest detective played with great passion by Terence Hill. The new episodes, sixteen aired over eight evenings, make up the third series. It is produced by the same production team, Lux Vide and the Rai, that believed in this project from the beginning: an Italian series that combines comedy and mystery, and brings together cinematic and television talent.

The third series follows the success of the previous two series: the first series directed by Enrico Oldoini and shown on Raiuno in January 2000, and the second series , shown on Raiuno last autumn, received an average audience share of 27%, which is the highest rating for any series of this type. Even in reruns, the adventures of Don Matteo had a loyal following: 4.5 million viewers ensuring that Don Matteo was number one of all the series broadcast this summer on the Italian television networks.

Terence Hill, one of the most beloved actors in Italy, takes on the role of the priest Don Matteo for a third time. A detective in the service of God, Don Matteo Bondini, is not just your average priest but also an ex-missionary with some special talents. He is capable of incredible intuitive powers, and this, together with a deep understanding of the human soul, ensures that he is always pointed in the right direction even when dealing with the most complicated of crimes. He is a generous, modest, intuitive, intelligent, meticulous, determined, easy-going person without any prejudices. By now, the identification by the audience of Terence Hill with Don Matteo is complete. This was to be expected since the project was developed with only one man in mind, Terence Hill: the star with Bud Spencer of so many successful Italian westerns, who moved many years ago to New Mexico, and who returned to Italy because he was drawn to this idea for a new television series.

In Don Matteo 3, Enrico Oldoini, the reputed "father" of the show (because he came up with the original idea for the project), has returned to direct some of the episodes. Also directing are two directors known for their film work, Andrea Barzini who directs eight episodes, and Leone Pompucci who directs four episodes. Both directors enjoyed great acclaim for their direction of the entire second season.

Medieval Gubbio, providing an evocative setting for the series, is by now as much a star of Don Matteo as are the actors. No scenes are filmed on sound stages; every scene, both indoors and out, is filmed on location in the ancient town. Don Matteo has actually created a type of television tourism, with Terence Hill fans coming to Gubbio from all over Italy just to get his autograph or to catch sight of a scene being filmed. As for the Gubbio natives, by now, they don't even look twice at their famous native-by-adoption, the charismatic actor dressed as a priest who cycles up and down the cobbled streets of the town followed by a screaming director and a film crew.

In the third series, Don Matteo is...still Don Matteo: a character who cannot resist righting a wrong or tackling the mistaken results of police investigations that may have led to a pre-emptive closing of a case or the arrest of an innocent person.

But Don Matteo remains a priest: his job is to awaken a person's conscience. His mission is not only to expose the guilty party, but more importantly, to show that person that when faced with free will and he has to choose between good and evil, good is the only right path to take.

His smile is open and disarming. Don Matteo has a wonderful sense of humour and great powers of observation. One can only describe him as a friendly person. His amazing intuition and his deductive skills, obvious even in the ordinary details of everyday life, far from police work, together with his sense of humour, ensure that the mysteries are always enlivened with comedy.

The cases which Don Matteo feels compelled to tackle, will, of course, be varied. In the third series there will be plenty of exciting scenes, like the ones from the episode "Il volo", when he attends a hang-gliding competition, for which Franco Salamon, a cameraman specialized in filming exciting aerial sequences, provided his services. The new stories will have varied and compelling settings thanks to the active imaginations of the writers, and the many locations available in and around Gubbio. Like the mysterious case set in the town's old theatre, or the adventure that takes place during the picturesque "Palio delle Balestre", and the investigation at the horse stables in the lush countryside, or the hunt for a troublemaker during a chess match with living chess pieces, and then there's the magical world of the circus, and the ancient abbey.

With the new episodes the public will have a chance to get closer to the characters who inhabit the world of Don Matteo, starting with the parish housekeeper, Natalina, who falls in love during one episode. And let's not forget the inimitable couple of Carabinieri, Captain Anceschi and Marshal Cecchini, whom we shall see in many new situations.

The cast has returned by popular demand: Marshal Cecchini-Nino Frassica, Capitan of the Carabinieri Anceschi-Flavio Insinna, the parish housekeeper-Natalie Guetta and then Evelina Gori, Claudio Ricci, Pietro Pulcini, Paolo Trubbianelli, Caterina Sylos Labini, with Renato Carpentieri as the new bishop, because Gastone Moschin has since been appointed Cardinal.

Offering their support to the regular players in the series, will be many well-known actors, including Corinne Clery, Fabio Testi, Jacqueline Lustig, Sabrina Colle, Giada Desideri, Caterina Murino, Elena Safonova, Elisabetta Cavallotti, Gabriella Pession, Helene Nardini, Jinny Steffan plus: Novello Novelli, Luca Ward, Angelo Infanti, Roberto Nobile, Adelmo Togliani, Andy Luotto, Massimo Olcese, Giovanni Lombardo Radice e Pierluigi Misasi.

When you mention a priest detective, one thinks immediately of Chesterton's famous Father Brown, who became popular in Italy because of a series produced by the Rai starring the talented Renato Rachel. But Don Matteo is a character for our times. He is not limited by being a literary icon, even if an illustrious icon like Father Brown. Don Matteo exists in a contemporary, real world setting, that of a small town in Italy. It is a hard-working, well-off town, seemingly far from the decay and alienation of big cities, but where sometimes moral and spiritual lassitude can make itself known.