Prime Suspect
Encyclopedia
Prime Suspect is a British
police procedural
television drama series directed by Christopher Menaul
and starring Helen Mirren
and made by Granada Television
for the ITV
network in the 1990s and 2000s. The teleplays for the first and third serial
s (and the story for the second) were written by Lynda La Plante
, and in 1993 she received an Edgar Award
from the Mystery Writers of America
in the category of Best TV Feature or Miniseries for her work. The following year, Allan Cubitt's teleplay for Prime Suspect 2 brought the series a second Edgar (in the same category). Prime Suspect was voted 68th in the list of 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
as compiled by a poll given by the British Film Institute
, and in 2007 it was listed as one of Time
magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME." The series has garnered multiple Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards and a Peabody Award
.
Chief Inspector
(DCI), Jane Tennison (played by Helen Mirren
), who is attached to the Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard
). It is set mostly in London and the outer areas, with series 5 being set in Manchester. In later series, she is promoted to Detective Superintendent
. The series shows how she survives and thrives in a male-dominated profession. As mentioned in the behind-the-scenes documentary that accompanies "The Final Act" DVD, Jackie Malton
, who was one of only four female DCIs at the time this series began, acted as an advisor to the writers.
The programme was part of a trend for programmes/films with women both in leading roles and holding senior authority positions. One UK television example is MIT
, a spinoff from The Bill
on ITV
.
The first series features sexism
in the workplace as a significant subplot and a barrier to the investigation. Sequels have tended to downplay this theme, relying on straight procedure or on other subplots—for example, institutional racism in Prime Suspect 2 and paedophilia, child abuse
, and prostitution
in Prime Suspect 3. Tennison's difficulty in achieving a balance between her work and her life outside the job and her difficulty in maintaining stable relationships are recurring issues within the series. Toward the end of Prime Suspect 3 she arranges to have her pregnancy terminated. As the series progresses, she increasingly relies upon alcohol to help her cope; this culminates in the final episode of the series in her attending meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous
, where she finally acknowledges and confronts her addiction.
Prime Suspects format is multiple episodes; each case runs around 3½ hours (excluding commercials), usually aired in two parts or four parts. Prime Suspect 4 was an exception at slightly over 5 hours in three separate cases.
The first five series were produced at a steady pace of one roughly every eighteen months until Helen Mirren left the role, supposedly to avoid typecasting (according to a PBS
interview). She returned to the character after a seven-year gap.
The music score for the first five series was done by Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Warbeck
, who was nominated for a BAFTA for "Prime Suspect" series one.
DCI Jane Tennison (played by Mirren
) gets her first chance to lead a major murder investigation while confronting DS Bill Otley (Tom Bell
) and other sexist officers on her squad who attempt to get her replaced. The case involves the rape-murder of a young woman. She eventually gets the suspect, George Marlow (John Bowe) and earns the respect of her team.
This case was reopened in Prime Suspect 4, Scent of Darkness, when similar murders occur while Marlow is in prison.
This series also features Tom Wilkinson
, who plays Tennison's love interest, Zoë Wanamaker
, who plays the domestic partner of the suspect, and Ralph Fiennes
, who plays a victim's boyfriend in a very minor role.
When a body is found in the backyard of a home in an Afro-Caribbean neighborhood of London, DCI Tennison has to tread carefully in her investigation because of the racial tension surrounding unsolved crimes in the region.
This series features many of the same characters that appeared in the first series.
It co-stars Colin Salmon
as a black officer with whom Tennison has an affair; when the affair is disclosed in the media, it threatens Tennison's position.
Now working in the vice squad
targeting Soho
, DCI Tennison's investigation takes her into a child prostitution and pornography ring following the death of a rent boy.
Tom Bell, who played Tennison's adversary Sgt. Bill Otley in the first series, returns to the series. Also starring David Thewlis
, Ciarán Hinds
, Peter Capaldi
, Mark Strong
, James Frain
and Jonny Lee Miller
.
Prime Suspect 4 was the only split series, divided into three separate stories. This series also promotes Tennison to Detective Superintendent.
The Lost Child: A child's death points to a convicted child molester, who has completed his prison sentence and lives with a woman and her two young daughters, keeping his dark past a secret from them. However, the man's counselor believes that he would not have done it because of his preference in victims. This episode introduces Dr. Schofield (Stuart Wilson). Also starring Beatie Edney
, Robert Glenister
and Lesley Sharp
.
Inner Circles: Tennison uncovers a possible political scandal when investigates the murder of a country club
manager. Also starring Kelly Reilly.
Scent of Darkness: A series of murders resembling those by George Marlow, investigated in the original Prime Suspect, have encouraged Tennison's subordinates to reopen the case, given that Marlow is stuck in prison when the new crimes took place.
Tennison is reluctant, however, as she is sure Marlow is guilty. In the end she is vindicated when a prison guard who knows Marlow confesses to the crimes. Dr. Schofield returns for this episode as Tennison's love interest.
Also starring Stuart Wilson, David Ryall
, Marc Warren
, Joyce Redman
replacing Maxine Audley
(who died in 1992) as Mrs. Marlow and Tim Woodward
replacing John Bowe as serial killer George Marlow.
Tennison investigates the murder of a drug dealer in Manchester
and becomes determined to charge a local gang leader nicknamed "The Street" (Steven Mackintosh
) with the crime. Also starring David O'Hara
and Marsha Thomason
. Written by Guy Andrews
. Directed by Philip Davis, an actor best known for his work in the films of Mike Leigh
.
Tennison, under pressure to retire, investigates the murder of a Bosnian refugee and ends up digging into the past war crimes of recent immigrants. The series returns after a seven-year hiatus. It also relocates the story back to London after being set in Manchester in series 5. Also starring Ben Miles
, Clare Holman
, Mark Strong
, Liam Cunningham, Frank Finlay
, Ingeborga Dapkunaite
, Phoebe Nicholls
, Valentine Pelka
, and Oleg Menshikov
. Directed by Tom Hooper
.
While dealing with her alcoholism
and the death of her father (Frank Finlay
) Tennison solves the case of a murdered teenage girl before retiring.
Prime Suspect: The Final Act was an ITV
and WGBH
coproduction.
It also starred Tom Bell
, Gary Lewis
, Stephen Tompkinson
, and Laura Greenwood
.
, starring Kyra Sedgwick
in the role of Deputy Chief of Police Brenda Leigh Johnson. Critics noted the similarities between the series in a stronger way during the first seasons of The Closer, with one 2006 article in USA Today calling The Closer "an unofficial Americanization" of the British series, and a later reviewer noting that, "When The Closer was first shown, critics were quick to compare it to Prime Suspect...[and] there's something in that...."
In interviews, Sedgwick has acknowledged that the show owes "a debt" to the British crime drama, and that her admiration for that show and for Mirren were factors that first interested her in the role. According to Sedgwick, Prime Suspect was one of the shows that "paved the way" for The Closer, and her manager got her interested in the series by saying that it was "a little bit like Prime Suspect." Sedgwick is quoted as saying that the Tennison character did become her inspiration in some ways for her portrayal of Brenda Leigh Johnson.
Reviewers in American papers, including the Christian Science Monitor, have noted that The Closer, while not a direct remake of the British series, "owes" much to it, or that it "echoes many of the elements" of it. One The New York Times article refers to The Closer as a "direct descendant" of Prime Suspect, although it is less hard-hitting than the original:
Other reviewers have also made the point that the differences between the Tennison and Johnson characters are as important as their similarities:
NBC has picked up an American adaptation
of the British series for the 2011–2012 season.
's biennial Red Nose Day charity telethon in aid of Comic Relief. A crossover with ITV stablemate crime drama Cracker
, the spoof starred Mirren and Cracker lead Robbie Coltrane
as their characters from the respective series, sending up the perceived ultra-seriousness of both shows.
Dead Ringers
featured a parody of Prime Suspect with Queen Elizabeth II in the lead role (as a reaction to Helen Mirren
's portrayal of her in The Queen
).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...
television drama series directed by Christopher Menaul
Christopher Menaul
Christopher Menaul is a British film, television director and television writer.Christopher Menaul left Cambridge with a First in History and quickly established anillustrious career as a multi award-winning TV and Feature film director...
and starring Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
and made by Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
for the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network in the 1990s and 2000s. The teleplays for the first and third serial
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
s (and the story for the second) were written by Lynda La Plante
Lynda La Plante
Lynda La Plante, CBE is an English author, screenwriter and former actress, best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series....
, and in 1993 she received an Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
from the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
in the category of Best TV Feature or Miniseries for her work. The following year, Allan Cubitt's teleplay for Prime Suspect 2 brought the series a second Edgar (in the same category). Prime Suspect was voted 68th in the list of 100 Greatest British Television Programmes
100 Greatest British Television Programmes
The BFI TV 100 is a list compiled in 2000 by the British Film Institute , chosen by a poll of industry professionals, to determine what were the greatest British television programmes of any genre ever to have been screened....
as compiled by a poll given by the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
, and in 2007 it was listed as one of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME." The series has garnered multiple Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, BAFTA Awards and a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
.
Overview
The series focuses on a no-nonsense female British DetectiveDetective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
Chief Inspector
Chief inspector
Chief inspector is a rank used in police forces which follow the British model. In countries outside Britain, it is sometimes referred to as chief inspector of police .-Australia:...
(DCI), Jane Tennison (played by Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
), who is attached to the Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
). It is set mostly in London and the outer areas, with series 5 being set in Manchester. In later series, she is promoted to Detective Superintendent
Superintendent (police)
Superintendent , often shortened to "super", is a rank in British police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries the full version is superintendent of police...
. The series shows how she survives and thrives in a male-dominated profession. As mentioned in the behind-the-scenes documentary that accompanies "The Final Act" DVD, Jackie Malton
Jackie Malton
Jackie Malton is a UK television script consultant and former senior police officer best known for being the inspiration for the character of DCI Jane Tennison in the Prime Suspect drama written by Lynda La Plante....
, who was one of only four female DCIs at the time this series began, acted as an advisor to the writers.
The programme was part of a trend for programmes/films with women both in leading roles and holding senior authority positions. One UK television example is MIT
M.I.T.: Murder Investigation Team (TV series)
MIT: Murder Investigation Team was a British police procedural drama series produced by the ITV network as a spin-off from the long running series, The Bill. The series is based around the investigations of a London Murder Investigation Team, and is closely styled after the American series CSI:...
, a spinoff from The Bill
The Bill
The Bill is a police procedural television series that ran from October 1984 to August 2010. It focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work...
on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
.
The first series features sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
in the workplace as a significant subplot and a barrier to the investigation. Sequels have tended to downplay this theme, relying on straight procedure or on other subplots—for example, institutional racism in Prime Suspect 2 and paedophilia, child abuse
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
, and prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
in Prime Suspect 3. Tennison's difficulty in achieving a balance between her work and her life outside the job and her difficulty in maintaining stable relationships are recurring issues within the series. Toward the end of Prime Suspect 3 she arranges to have her pregnancy terminated. As the series progresses, she increasingly relies upon alcohol to help her cope; this culminates in the final episode of the series in her attending meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
, where she finally acknowledges and confronts her addiction.
Prime Suspects format is multiple episodes; each case runs around 3½ hours (excluding commercials), usually aired in two parts or four parts. Prime Suspect 4 was an exception at slightly over 5 hours in three separate cases.
The first five series were produced at a steady pace of one roughly every eighteen months until Helen Mirren left the role, supposedly to avoid typecasting (according to a PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
interview). She returned to the character after a seven-year gap.
The music score for the first five series was done by Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Warbeck
Stephen Warbeck
Stephen Warbeck is an English composer, best known for his film and television scores.Warbeck was born in Southampton. He first became known for the music for Prime Suspect and won an Academy Award for his score for Shakespeare in Love...
, who was nominated for a BAFTA for "Prime Suspect" series one.
Prime Suspect
| Title | Air date | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Suspect | Part 1: 7 April 1991, Part 2: 8 April 1991 (UK) http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/P/htmlP/primesuspect/primesuspect.htm 1992 (US) |
207 min. |
DCI Jane Tennison (played by Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
) gets her first chance to lead a major murder investigation while confronting DS Bill Otley (Tom Bell
Tom Bell (actor)
Tom Bell was an English actor on stage, film and television. He was dark-haired, lean, and in his later years often played characters having a sinister side to their nature.-Biography:...
) and other sexist officers on her squad who attempt to get her replaced. The case involves the rape-murder of a young woman. She eventually gets the suspect, George Marlow (John Bowe) and earns the respect of her team.
This case was reopened in Prime Suspect 4, Scent of Darkness, when similar murders occur while Marlow is in prison.
This series also features Tom Wilkinson
Tom Wilkinson
Thomas Geoffrey "Tom" Wilkinson, OBE is a British actor. He has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton...
, who plays Tennison's love interest, Zoë Wanamaker
Zoe Wanamaker
Zoë Wanamaker, CBE is an American-British actress. She has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; in films, including the Harry Potter series; and in a number of television productions, including a long-time role as Susan Harper in the sitcom My Family.-Early life and family:Wanamaker was...
, who plays the domestic partner of the suspect, and Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Fiennes
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....
, who plays a victim's boyfriend in a very minor role.
- BAFTA TV Award: Best TV Actress, Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
(co-star Zoe Wanamaker was also nominated in this category.) - BAFTA TV Award: Best Drama Serial, Christopher MenaulChristopher MenaulChristopher Menaul is a British film, television director and television writer.Christopher Menaul left Cambridge with a First in History and quickly established anillustrious career as a multi award-winning TV and Feature film director...
, Lynda La PlanteLynda La PlanteLynda La Plante, CBE is an English author, screenwriter and former actress, best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series....
, Don Leaver - BAFTA TV Award: Best Film or Video Editor, Edward Mansell
- BAFTA TV Award: Best Film or Video Photography, Ken Morgan
Prime Suspect 2
| Title | Air date | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Suspect 2 | Part 1: 15 December 1992, Part 2: 16 December 1992 (UK) 1993 (US) |
203 min. |
When a body is found in the backyard of a home in an Afro-Caribbean neighborhood of London, DCI Tennison has to tread carefully in her investigation because of the racial tension surrounding unsolved crimes in the region.
This series features many of the same characters that appeared in the first series.
It co-stars Colin Salmon
Colin Salmon
Colin Salmon is a British actor best known for playing the character Charles Robinson in three James Bond films.-Personal life:...
as a black officer with whom Tennison has an affair; when the affair is disclosed in the media, it threatens Tennison's position.
- BAFTA TV Award: Best TV Actress, Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
- Emmy Award: Outstanding Miniseries, Sally Head, Paul MarcusPaul MarcusPaul Coryn Valentine Marcus was a British television director and producer. His most notable success was as producer of the television series Prime Suspect, but he also worked in cinema, theatre and many other TV series.-Early life:Marcus was born in London in 1954, the son of playwright Frank...
- Emmy Award nomination: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special, Helen Mirren
Prime Suspect 3
| Title | Air date | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Suspect 3 | Part 1: 19 December 1993, Part 2: 20 December 1993 (UK) 1994 (US) |
207 min. |
Now working in the vice squad
Vice Squad
Vice Squad is a punk band formed in 1978 in Bristol, England. The band formed from two other local punk bands, The Contingent and TV Brakes. Songwriter and vocalist Beki Bondage was a founding member and is currently with the band, although there was a period of time when the band had a different...
targeting Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, DCI Tennison's investigation takes her into a child prostitution and pornography ring following the death of a rent boy.
Tom Bell, who played Tennison's adversary Sgt. Bill Otley in the first series, returns to the series. Also starring David Thewlis
David Thewlis
David Thewlis is an English actor of stage and screen. His most commercially successful role to date has been that of Remus Lupin, in the Harry Potter film series...
, Ciarán Hinds
Ciarán Hinds
Ciarán Hinds is an Irish film, television and stage actor. He has built up a reputation as a versatile character actor appearing in such high profile films as Road to Perdition, The Phantom of the Opera, Munich, There Will Be Blood and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. His television roles include...
, Peter Capaldi
Peter Capaldi
Peter Dougan Capaldi is an Academy Award and BAFTA award winning Scottish actor and film director. In 1995, his short film Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life won the Academy Award for Live Action Short Film...
, Mark Strong
Mark Strong
Mark Strong is an English actor, with a body of work in both films and television. He has performed in films as varied as Body of Lies, Syriana, The Young Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, RocknRolla, Stardust, and Kick-Ass...
, James Frain
James Frain
James Dominic Frain is an English stage and screen actor. He is possibly best known for his role in the Showtime series The Tudors in which he appeared as Thomas Cromwell from 2007 to 2009, and for his role as vampire Franklin Mott in season three of the HBO drama True Blood, as well as his role...
and Jonny Lee Miller
Jonny Lee Miller
Jonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is an English actor. During the initial days he was best known for his roles in the 1996 films Trainspotting and Hackers...
.
- BAFTA TV Award: Best TV Actress, Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
- BAFTA TV Award: Best Drama Serial, Paul MarcusPaul MarcusPaul Coryn Valentine Marcus was a British television director and producer. His most notable success was as producer of the television series Prime Suspect, but he also worked in cinema, theatre and many other TV series.-Early life:Marcus was born in London in 1954, the son of playwright Frank...
, David DruryDavid DruryDavid Brian Drury is a former English cricketer. He was a left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper who played for Cumberland.Drury made his debut for Cumberland in the Minor Counties Championship on 28 May 1985, playing as a specialist batsman at number seven...
, Lynda La PlanteLynda La PlanteLynda La Plante, CBE is an English author, screenwriter and former actress, best known for writing the Prime Suspect television crime series.... - Emmy Award: Outstanding Miniseries, Sally Head, Paul MarcusPaul MarcusPaul Coryn Valentine Marcus was a British television director and producer. His most notable success was as producer of the television series Prime Suspect, but he also worked in cinema, theatre and many other TV series.-Early life:Marcus was born in London in 1954, the son of playwright Frank...
- Lynda La Plante's teleplay was nominated for an Emmy Award, as was Helen Mirren, in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special.
Prime Suspect 4
| Title | Air date | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Suspect 4: The Lost Child | 30 April 1995 (UK) 1996 (US) |
102 min. |
| Prime Suspect 4: Inner Circles | 7 May 1995 (UK) 1996 (US) |
102 min. |
| Prime Suspect 4: Scent of Darkness | 15 May 1995 (UK) 1996 (US) |
102 min. |
Prime Suspect 4 was the only split series, divided into three separate stories. This series also promotes Tennison to Detective Superintendent.
The Lost Child: A child's death points to a convicted child molester, who has completed his prison sentence and lives with a woman and her two young daughters, keeping his dark past a secret from them. However, the man's counselor believes that he would not have done it because of his preference in victims. This episode introduces Dr. Schofield (Stuart Wilson). Also starring Beatie Edney
Beatie Edney
Beatrice "Beatie" Edney is an English television actress.Born Beatrice Edney in London, she is the daughter of famous British actress Sylvia Syms and cousin of Nicholas Webb. Edney first came to audiences' attention as Heather MacLeod the 1986 film Highlander, the first film in the Highlander series...
, Robert Glenister
Robert Glenister
Robert Lewis Glenister is a British actor known for his roles as con man Ash "Three Socks" Morgan in the British TV series Hustle, and Nicholas Blake in the BBC spy drama Spooks.-Career:...
and Lesley Sharp
Lesley Sharp
Lesley Sharp is an English stage, film and television actress, particularly well known for her variety of British television roles including Clocking Off, Bob & Rose and afterlife.-Early life:...
.
Inner Circles: Tennison uncovers a possible political scandal when investigates the murder of a country club
Country club
A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...
manager. Also starring Kelly Reilly.
Scent of Darkness: A series of murders resembling those by George Marlow, investigated in the original Prime Suspect, have encouraged Tennison's subordinates to reopen the case, given that Marlow is stuck in prison when the new crimes took place.
Tennison is reluctant, however, as she is sure Marlow is guilty. In the end she is vindicated when a prison guard who knows Marlow confesses to the crimes. Dr. Schofield returns for this episode as Tennison's love interest.
Also starring Stuart Wilson, David Ryall
David Ryall
David Ryall is an English actor who has appeared on British television since the 1970s. He has had leading roles in Lytton's Diary and Goodnight Sweetheart, as well as memorable roles in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective and Andrew Davies's adaptation of To Play the King and The Final Cut, the...
, Marc Warren
Marc Warren
Marc Warren is an English actor, known for his British television roles as Danny Blue in Hustle, Dougie Raymond in The Vice and Dominic Foy in State of Play.-Career:...
, Joyce Redman
Joyce Redman
-Biography:She was born in County Mayo, Ireland, to an Anglo-Irish family. She was educated by a private governess in Ireland, along with her three sisters. She was trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art....
replacing Maxine Audley
Maxine Audley
Maxine Audley was an English theatre and film actress. She made her professional stage debut in July 1940 at the Open Air Theatre. Throughout her career, Audley performed with both the Old Vic company and the Royal Shakespeare Company multiple times...
(who died in 1992) as Mrs. Marlow and Tim Woodward
Tim Woodward
-Biography:Woodward was born in London, England, the son of actors Edward Woodward and Venetia Mary Barrett.He is probably best known for his roles in the 1970s BBC drama Wings, the 1990s ITV soap opera Families and the 2000s ITV police drama Murder City...
replacing John Bowe as serial killer George Marlow.
- Emmy Award: Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries, Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
(Award was given for "Scent of Darkness" episode. This was Mirren's first Emmy win ever.)
Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement
| Title | Air date | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgement | 20 October 1996 (UK) 1997 (US) |
200 min. |
Tennison investigates the murder of a drug dealer in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and becomes determined to charge a local gang leader nicknamed "The Street" (Steven Mackintosh
Steven Mackintosh
-Personal life:Mackintosh was born in Cambridge, the son of Dorothy and Malcolm Mackintosh. He has a sister, Lynda Ellingham .He is married to the actress Lisa Jacobs and the couple have two children, Martha and Blythe.-Film:...
) with the crime. Also starring David O'Hara
David O'Hara
David O'Hara is a Scottish actor.-Life and career:O'Hara was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Martha and Patrick O'Hara, a construction worker....
and Marsha Thomason
Marsha Thomason
Marsha Lisa Thomason is an English actress, who is known in the United States for playing Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series Las Vegas, for her recurring role on ABC's Lost as Naomi Dorrit, and for playing FBI agent Diana Berrigan on USA Network's White Collar.-Early...
. Written by Guy Andrews
Guy Andrews
Guy Andrews, educated at Cranleigh School and St. Peter's College, Oxford University, is a British television writer who has written for television programmes including "Lost in Austen", "Absolute Power", "Agatha Christie's Poirot", and "Chancer"....
. Directed by Philip Davis, an actor best known for his work in the films of Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...
.
- Emmy Award: Outstanding Miniseries, Gub Neal, Rebecca Eaton, Lynn Horsford, producers.
- Helen Mirren nominated for Emmy and BAFTA awards, but did not win.
Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness
| Title | Air date | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness | Part 1: 9 November 2003, Part 2: 10 November 2003 (UK) 2004 (US) |
200 min. |
Tennison, under pressure to retire, investigates the murder of a Bosnian refugee and ends up digging into the past war crimes of recent immigrants. The series returns after a seven-year hiatus. It also relocates the story back to London after being set in Manchester in series 5. Also starring Ben Miles
Ben Miles
Ben Miles is an English actor, best known for his starring role as Patrick Maitland in the British TV comedy Coupling, from 2000 to 2004.-Life and career:...
, Clare Holman
Clare Holman
Clare Margaret Holman is an English actress, perhaps most famous for her role of forensic pathologist Dr. Laura Hobson in the television series Inspector Morse and Lewis.-Acting:...
, Mark Strong
Mark Strong
Mark Strong is an English actor, with a body of work in both films and television. He has performed in films as varied as Body of Lies, Syriana, The Young Victoria, Sherlock Holmes, RocknRolla, Stardust, and Kick-Ass...
, Liam Cunningham, Frank Finlay
Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
, Ingeborga Dapkunaite
Ingeborga Dapkunaite
Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė is a Lithuanian actress, who stars mostly in Russian movies.-Youth:Ingeborga Dapkunaite was born in Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR. Her father was a diplomat and her mother a meteorologist. For many years her parents worked in Moscow, and she only saw them on holidays...
, Phoebe Nicholls
Phoebe Nicholls
Phoebe Nicholls is an English film, television, and stage actor. She is known for her roles as Cordelia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited and as the mother of John Merrick in The Elephant Man....
, Valentine Pelka
Valentine Pelka
Valentine Pelka is an English actor who has starred in film and on television.-Biography:Pelka was born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire to an actress mother and a civil engineer father. His mother is Irish, and his father is Polish. His sister is Kazia Pelka an actress who starred in Brookside, amongst...
, and Oleg Menshikov
Oleg Menshikov
Oleg Evgenyevich Menshikov ; is a Russian entertainer. He is a film and theatre actor, singer and director. He started his film career in the early 1980s playing in the comedy Pokrovskie vorota and in Nikita Mikhalkov's Rodnya....
. Directed by Tom Hooper
Tom Hooper (director)
Thomas George "Tom" Hooper is a British film and television director of English and Australian background. Hooper began making short films at the age of 13, and had his first professional short, Painted Faces, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University Hooper directed plays and...
.
- Nominated for four BAFTA awards, including Best Drama Serial and Best Actress (Helen Mirren), but did not win any awards.
- Nominated for three Emmy awards, including Outstanding Miniseries and Best Actress (Helen Mirren), but did not win any awards.
Prime Suspect: The Final Act
| Title | Air date | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Prime Suspect: The Final Act | Part 1: 15 October 2006, Part 2: 22 October 2006 (UK) Part 1: 12 November 2006, Part 2: 19 November 2006 (US) |
200 min. |
While dealing with her alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
and the death of her father (Frank Finlay
Frank Finlay
Francis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
) Tennison solves the case of a murdered teenage girl before retiring.
- BAFTA TV Award: Best Original TV Music, Nicholas HooperNicholas HooperNicholas Hooper is a British film and television composer. He has scored the award-winning BBC productions Land of the Tiger and Andes to Amazon, as well as the TV movies The Girl in the Café and My Family and Other Animals among others...
- Emmy Award: Outstanding Lead Actress - Miniseries or Movie Helen MirrenHelen MirrenDame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
- Emmy Award: Outstanding Writing - Miniseries or Movie
- Emmy Award: Outstanding Directing - Miniseries or Movie
Prime Suspect: The Final Act was an ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
coproduction.
It also starred Tom Bell
Tom Bell (actor)
Tom Bell was an English actor on stage, film and television. He was dark-haired, lean, and in his later years often played characters having a sinister side to their nature.-Biography:...
, Gary Lewis
Gary Lewis (actor)
Gary Lewis is a Scottish actor. He has had parts in Billy Elliot, Gangs of New York, Eragon and Three and Out, as well as a major role in the television docudrama, Supervolcano.-Early life:...
, Stephen Tompkinson
Stephen Tompkinson
Stephen Tompkinson is a British actor. He is best known for his work in comedy and drama productions such as Drop the Dead Donkey, Ballykissangel, Grafters, In Deep, Wild at Heart and DCI Banks....
, and Laura Greenwood
Laura Greenwood
Laura Greenwood is an English actress and a member of the YoungBlood Theatre Company in 2006.Greenwood's big breakthrough came in 2006 when at age 14 she starred as Penny Philips opposite Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect The Final Act, the two-part conclusion to ITV's long-running series...
.
Effect on other series
Many observers have viewed Prime Suspect as the inspiration for female characters in American TV series, particularly noting strong similarities between this series in general—and the character of Jane Tennison in particular—and the later American series The CloserThe Closer
The Closer is an American crime drama, starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Georgia police detective who often closes her cases using sometimes-questionable methods...
, starring Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Sedgwick
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American actress.Sedgwick is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the TNT crime drama The Closer. Sedgwick's role in the series won her a Golden Globe Award in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010...
in the role of Deputy Chief of Police Brenda Leigh Johnson. Critics noted the similarities between the series in a stronger way during the first seasons of The Closer, with one 2006 article in USA Today calling The Closer "an unofficial Americanization" of the British series, and a later reviewer noting that, "When The Closer was first shown, critics were quick to compare it to Prime Suspect...[and] there's something in that...."
In interviews, Sedgwick has acknowledged that the show owes "a debt" to the British crime drama, and that her admiration for that show and for Mirren were factors that first interested her in the role. According to Sedgwick, Prime Suspect was one of the shows that "paved the way" for The Closer, and her manager got her interested in the series by saying that it was "a little bit like Prime Suspect." Sedgwick is quoted as saying that the Tennison character did become her inspiration in some ways for her portrayal of Brenda Leigh Johnson.
Reviewers in American papers, including the Christian Science Monitor, have noted that The Closer, while not a direct remake of the British series, "owes" much to it, or that it "echoes many of the elements" of it. One The New York Times article refers to The Closer as a "direct descendant" of Prime Suspect, although it is less hard-hitting than the original:
- "There is one show, however, that is a direct descendant, however different its tone might be:
Other reviewers have also made the point that the differences between the Tennison and Johnson characters are as important as their similarities:
- But then there’s the locker-room pissiness of her [Johnson's] all-male department, which she navigates like an estrogen version of
NBC has picked up an American adaptation
Prime Suspect (U.S. TV series)
Prime Suspect is an American police procedural television drama series that premiered on NBC on September 22, 2011. It stars Maria Bello as Detective Jane Timoney. The series is a "re-imagining" of the British series by the same name. The series was created by Lynda La Plante and was redeveloped by...
of the British series for the 2011–2012 season.
Spoofs
In 1997 a short spoof episode Prime Cracker was produced for the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's biennial Red Nose Day charity telethon in aid of Comic Relief. A crossover with ITV stablemate crime drama Cracker
Cracker (UK TV series)
Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The series is centered on a criminal psychologist , Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane. Set in Manchester, it consists of three series which were...
, the spoof starred Mirren and Cracker lead Robbie Coltrane
Robbie Coltrane
Robbie Coltrane, OBE is a Scottish actor, comedian and author. He is known both for his role as Dr...
as their characters from the respective series, sending up the perceived ultra-seriousness of both shows.
Dead Ringers
Dead Ringers (comedy)
Dead Ringers is a UK radio and television comedy impressions broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and later BBC Two. The programme was devised by producer Bill Dare and developed with Jon Holmes, Andy Hurst and Simon Blackwell. It starred Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Phil Cornwell, Kevin Connelly and Mark Perry...
featured a parody of Prime Suspect with Queen Elizabeth II in the lead role (as a reaction to Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren
Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...
's portrayal of her in The Queen
The Queen (film)
The Queen is a 2006 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Helen Mirren as the title role, HM Queen Elizabeth II...
).
External links
- Prime Suspect at PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
- Prime Suspect at the British Film Institute'sBritish Film InstituteThe British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
ScreenonlineScreenonlineScreenonline is a Web site devoted to the history of British film and television, and to social history as revealed by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lottery New Opportunities Fund.Reviews... - Prime Suspect at the MBCMuseum of Broadcast CommunicationsThe Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
's Encyclopedia of Television