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Prime Suspect

Prime Suspect is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who rises to the rank of Detective Superintendent while confronting institutionalised sexism within the police force.

For the U.S. series, see Prime Suspect (American TV series). For the police term, see Prime suspect. For other uses, see Prime suspect (disambiguation).

Prime Suspect

United Kingdom

English

7

100 minutes

ITV

7 April 1991 (1991-04-07) –
22 October 2006 (2006-10-22)

Plot[edit]

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.

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]

Helen Mirren

as Detective Superintendent Michael Kernan (series 1–4), Tennison's supervisor, later Detective Chief Superintendent

John Benfield

as Detective Constable Richard Haskons (series 1–4), later Detective Sergeant and Detective Inspector

Richard Hawley

as Detective Sergeant Bill Otley (series 1, 3, 7)

Tom Bell

as Detective Inspector Tony Muddyman (series 1–2, 4)

Jack Ellis

as Detective Inspector Frank Burkin (series 1–2)

Craig Fairbrass

as Constable Maureen Havers (series 1, 4)

Mossie Smith

as Detective Constable Jones (series 1–2)

Ian Fitzgibbon

as Detective Constable Lillie (series 1–3)

Philip Wright

as Detective Constable Rosper (series 1–2)

Andrew Tiernan

as Detective Sergeant Terry Amson (series 1)

Gary Whelan

as Detective Chief Inspector Thorndike, later Detective Superintendent (series 2–4)

Stephen Boxer

as Commander Traynor (series 2–4)

Stafford Gordon

as Detective Inspector Larry Hall (series 3, 6), later Detective Chief Superintendent in series 6

Mark Strong

as Detective Sergeant Alun Simms (series 6–7)

Robert Pugh

Home media[edit]

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.

at the British Film Institute's Screenonline

Prime Suspect

at IMDb

Prime Suspect