DVD & BluRay

MY BRILLIANT FRIEND: SERIES 3

Acorn, cert 15; DVD 2-disc set £24.99

This epic Italian story which has a rare 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes - from the Neapolitan novels of Elena Ferrante continues to delight Sky Atlantic viewers and the third series is subtitled Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay.

It’s hard to see how anything can prevent Elena (Margherita Mazzucco) and Lila (Gaia Girace) staying friends forever, they’ve been understanding pals since childhood. But, Elena has become famous after writing the story of their lives growing up together in a mob-ruled, poverty-stricken and vibrant neighbourhood in 1950s’ Naples, and now moves in wealthy circles.

Now approaching

30, Elena and Lila enter the 70s with Lila no longer on speaking terms with her father, brother or her abusive husband. She lives as a single mum with Enzo in a dingy tenement, taking a tedious sausage factory job to make ends meet.

Meanwhile, Elena has spread her wings to Pisa society. Can friendship bridge these very different worlds as the women drift in and out of one another’s lives? Certainly, despite having to navigate a stream of hopes and uncertainties their bond remains resolutely intact, and Elena returns to the old neighbourhood before her life changes again with marriage to Professor Pietro Aurora and a move to Florence. But, for the first time Elena and Lila both have

secrets they are reluctant to share, and it creates a void. It is filled by politics, with Lila become embroiled with revolutionary movements, and Elena sees feminism as a subject for her next book. Fans will look forward to the final chapter coming soon.