Prime Suspect focuses on a no-nonsense female Detective Chief Inspector (DCI), Jane Tennison (played by Helen Mirren), who is an officer in the Metropolitan Police, initially at the fictional Southampton Row police station.
The series follows her constant battles to prove herself within a male-dominated profession in which many of her colleagues are determined to see her fail, though she has the support of her boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Mike Kernan (John Benfield), and the loyalty of Detective Sergeant Richard Haskons (Richard Hawley).
In later series, Tennison is reassigned to rotating duties, including a vice squad in Soho and a gang squad in Manchester. She is promoted to Detective Superintendent in series 4 and retires from policing at the end of series 7.
Cast
Main cast
Helen Mirren as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, initially of Southampton Row Police Station in Central London, later Detective Superintendent in series 4. Mirren has described Tennison as "extremely directed, ambitious, talented and very uncompromising. Therefore she is deeply frustrated by her job; the way her sex is a barrier."[1]
John Benfield as Detective Superintendent Michael Kernan (series 1–4), Tennison's supervisor, later Detective Chief Superintendent
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, such as institutional racism in Prime Suspect 2 or child sexual abuse and prostitution in Prime Suspect 3, but they continue to demonstrate the determination of some of Tennison's male peers and those in upper echelons to see her fail.
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 themes within the series. Towards the end of Prime Suspect 3 she arranges to have her pregnancy terminated. As the series progresses, she increasingly relies on 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.
Setting
Prime Suspect is set mostly in London and surrounding areas, but series 5 is set in Manchester.
Production
Every series of Prime Suspect except series 4 follows a single case and runs around 31⁄2 hours (excluding commercials). It has usually been shown in two or four parts. Prime Suspect 4 is an exception at slightly over five hours, with three separate cases.
The first five series were produced annually from 1991 to 1996, until Mirren left the role, supposedly to avoid typecasting (according to a PBS interview). She returned to play the character in 2003 and again in 2006.
Prime Suspect won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Serial over G.B.H. in 1991.[3] Afterwards, four of the seven voting members of the jury raised a discrepancy to jury chairperson Irene Shubik,[4] and later signed a public statement declaring that they had voted for G.B.H. to win.[3] BAFTA Chairman Richard Price stated that the ballot papers passed on to him by Shubik had shown four votes for Prime Suspect and three for G.B.H.[3] Price claimed that the ballot papers could not be recounted as they had subsequently been destroyed.[4]Prime Suspect won Best Drama Serial once more for series three, and was nominated four other times.[5] The series won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries three times, and was nominated twice more.[6]
Prime Suspect 3 was awarded a Peabody Award in 1993 for its realistic scenes and dialogue.[7][8] Writer/creator Lynda La Plante received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for series one in the category of Best TV Feature or Miniseries. The following year, Allan Cubitt won in the same category for series two. Prime Suspect was later nominated for series three and six.[9]
Many observers have viewed Prime Suspect as the inspiration for female characters in U.S. 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 Closer, 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,[14] 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...."[15]
In interviews Sedgwick has acknowledged that The Closer owes "a debt" to Prime Suspect, and that her admiration for that show and for Mirren were factors that first interested her in the role.[16] According to Sedgwick, Prime Suspect was one of the shows that "paved the way" for The Closer,[17] and her manager got her interested in the series by saying that it was "a little bit like Prime Suspect."[18][19] Sedgwick is quoted as saying that the Tennison character did become her inspiration in some ways for her portrayal of Brenda Leigh Johnson.[20]
Reviewers in U.S. papers, including the Christian Science Monitor, have noted that The Closer, while not a direct remake of the British series, "owes" much to it,[21] or that it "echoes many of the elements" of it.[22] One The New York Times article refers to The Closer as a "direct descendant" of Prime Suspect, although less hard-hitting than the original:
There is one show, however, that is a direct descendant, however different its tone might be: The Closer, on which Kyra Sedgwick’s Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson obsesses over her cases, tramples feelings and battles the old-boy network. Her vice, however, is candy; no booze or one-night stands. If you want the hard stuff, you need to head back to Prime Suspect.[23]
Other reviewers have also made the point that the differences between Tennison and Johnson 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 Prime Suspect's Jane Tennison. (That's not a running gag error, either: Sedgwick plays Johnson as if her toughness, intelligence and wit blossomed naturally from her Southern femininity, whereas Helen Mirren plays the dogged Tennison as if womanhood were a liability.)[24]
NBC picked up an adaptation of the British series for the 2011–2012 season.[25] It was taken off the schedule after 13 episodes were produced.[26]
Spoofs
In 1997 a short spoof episode Prime Cracker was produced for the BBC'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 with Queen Elizabeth II in the lead role, as a reaction to Helen Mirren's portrayal of her in the 2006 film The Queen.
A six-part prequel, Prime Suspect 1973, was announced in 2015 by ITV, based on the book Tennison by Lynda La Plante, adapted by Glen Laker. It tells the story of a 22-year-old Jane Tennison as a probationary WPC in Hackney, London, investigating her first murder case.[27] The series began airing on 2 March 2017. The role of Tennison is played by Stefanie Martini.[28] In June 2017, ITV confirmed that the series had not been recommissioned for a second series.[29]
Home media
On 1 October 2013, Netflix made the Series 1–6 available online for streaming.[30] On 27 August 2013, Acorn Media released the entire series in a seven-disc Blu-ray Disc set. Each disc contains the individual programme, upscaled to 1080p HD and converted to 16:9 Widescreen (apart from season 4 episode 1 which remains in 4:3 aspect ratio). Bonus material includes a 50-minute behind-the-scenes special, a 23-minute Series 6 behind-the-scenes featurette, a photo gallery and cast filmographies.[31]
The DVD format of the series was released in 2010 by ITV Studios/Global entertainment. It has an overall running time of 1,437 minutes approximately, and encompasses ten discs, with each Series set on one disc except the triple-episode Series 4, which is set over three discs. As with the Blu-ray production, the final disc contains a Behind-the-Scenes of Series 7.
