#DCI Jane Tennison

[suchamiracle-does-exist]

“No comment.” Prime Suspect 3 (1993)

[emmynominees]

helen mirren as dci jane tennison in prime suspect 5: errors of judgment

primetime emmy award nominee for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie

[zippocreed501]

AUTHOR

EXTRAORDINAIRE

' I was an actress [in cop shows like Z Cars and The Sweeney] before I was a writer. I had a role with dialogue that made no sense, so I thought, Can I have a go? I went off and wrote three short treatments. They were all rejected, but there was one, Widows, where someone had scrawled across it, “This is brilliant."

'My treatment for Widows started like this: “Four men planning a raid blow themselves up with their own explosives. These men left four widows: Dolly Rawlins, Shirley Miller, Linda Pirelli and Bella O’Reilly. Bereft by the loss of her beloved husband, Dolly Rawlins finds weapons, money and a detailed map of the robbery, and knows where it went wrong. She approaches the other widows and says ‘I will pay you to work alongside me and do the robbery.’” But I didn’t know how to write it from there.'

'...She said, “What we really want is a woman in a leading role, working on a murder investigation.” I said, “I’ve been working on that!” Which I hadn’t. She then said, “And we want her in plainclothes.” I said, “Yes, I’ve been working on just that!"

She said, “What’s it called?” The gods were on my side: I came out with, “Prime Suspect”. She said that sounded perfect, just what they were looking for! So I agreed to bring in a treatment.'

' The first thing I did was phone the police and ask for a high-ranking woman detective. “No problem, we have three.” Only three! That was the first insight. So I go in to meet one, and in comes my prototype for Jane Tennison: DCI Jackie Malton. She would say the male officers were so desperate to elbow her out that when they got the call to scramble the squad cars, her rank would put her in the front seat, but she got her hand caught in the door three or four times because they didn’t want to let her in.'

'People love crime fiction, because it’s a game. They say, “I know who did it – now trick me.” I will outwit you again and again. You think you know who the killer is? No you don’t. That’s respecting an adult audience, not decapitations and blood everywhere.'

Author and Screenwriter Extraordinaire Lynda La Plante

text source: dominic wells londonhollywood.wordpress.com

[clive-owen-and-the-knick]

https://www.popmatters.com/123302-second-sight-the-complete-collection-2496189035.html

Clive Owen is, as they say, a tall glass of water. Ruggedly handsome, with sleepy, sad eyes, a deep rich voice, and cool and charisma to burn, he seems cut from a classic, if anachronistic, Hollywood mold. Combining a sort of arched-eyebrow knowingness with a heavy-browed brooding vulnerability, he is one part dashing leading man, two parts smoldering noir hunk.

I’m not sure the current film world quite knows what to do with him – though he is generally great in everything he’s been in, he always seems slightly out of place or time, like he just time warped from a late'40s noir that would star Robert Mitchum or William Holden. Perhaps the proper vehicles for Owen's talents and persona just don’t exist anymore, though some films have come close – Sin City and the vastly underrated Duplicity come to mind.

So it’s no surprise that his best work, and the role that catapulted him to fame in the UK, came in a millennial British mystery series, in which he plays a brilliant but brooding, sharp but tortured detective. Second Sight belongs to the same rich tradition of British mystery series as Prime Suspect, or Cracker, or any of the superior police procedurals that wash up on US shores on PBS. Conceived and written by veteran TV writer Paula Milne, Second Sight offers few actual genre surprises, but boasts a central character so richly developed (in such a short space) that he almost deserves equal footing with Helen Mirren’s iconic Jane Tennison.

Like Tennison, Ross Tanner is a brilliant DCI with London homicide. In the titular first “series” (oh the confusion trying to get around what to call each installment of these things, which are called series in the UK, but are more like TV movies by US sensibilities), Tanner is called in to investigate the mysterious death of a young college student visiting home for the weekend. He quickly begins to uncover a story more complex and sordid than it first appears (shocking, that!). Further difficulties arise as Tanner begins to experience various ocular disturbances – blurred vision, seeing things that aren’t there, a weird sort of starlight pixilation of the world around him.

A car crash lands him in front of an eye doctor, who diagnoses him with a rare, degenerative disease (AZOOR, an acronym for a lot of medical gobbledygook, but a real condition) of mysterious origins. Though not resulting in total blindness, the main characteristics, as portrayed from Tanner’s point of view with chintzy camera tricks here, are a certain fuzzed out quality to seeing the world, like it’s been made both super-bright and wrapped in gauze. Occasionally, certain things – faces, key objects – will come in to sharp focus. Or Tanner will see things that should be in a certain place but aren’t, his brain completing the image that is expected.

Tanner’s condition is the crux of the entire series, informing the show’s every aspect – and of course giving it its title. On a practical level, his waning eyesight is a seemingly insurmountable hindrance to his investigatory skills… or is it? There are hints, as the series progresses, especially in its later installments, of AZOOR granting Tanner some sort of mystical insight, allowing entry in to the minds of killers, or making connections in the chain of events that other detectives can’t see.

However, Second Sight never really commits to this angle, on how much importance to give to the quasi-supernatural aspects of his vision problem. It always just pulls back (rightly) from fully turning Tanner into some sort of mystic. It wants to have its cake and eat it too, presenting Tanner as both a dogged, rigorously intelligent investigator on the one hand, and as sort of a more dour, haunted Special Agent Cooper (minus the cherry pie and coffee obsession) on the other – solving cases more on luck, intuition and out and out hallucination, than because of any obvious sleuthing prowess. It’s an odd disconnect, the series at war with itself at what it wants its central character to be, and what do with its central gimmick.

The real surprise, though, is that this disconnect almost don’t matter. In fact, it dovetails nicely with what is really the key strength of Second Sight - the noirish mood of the series, and the richly realized psychological conflicts simmering within Tanner himself. Ultimately, the series is about a man at war with himself as the world he is accustomed to dealing with – a stark world of fact and certainty – crumbles away from his grasp.

His struggle to cope pulls him in every direction, and his pride and self-reliance take the biggest hit as he comes to have to depend on his comely new assistant, Catherine Tully (Claire Skinner), to literally be his eyes and support (and confidant, as she is the only one on the force in the know, at first). Throw on top of this custody squabbles with his ex-wife over his young son, and Tanner is slowly cooking to some sort of breakdown. Only focusing on the cases keeps him on track and from flying apart.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the mysteries themselves are incidental – there are four total, including the title series. They are more than mildly intriguing, if ultimately slight. They work best when they complement Tanner’s inner conflicts and personal problems. In this way, the later installments are actually better than the first one, which, though the longest and most complex of the lot, is the weakest.

“Second Sight” (the first, titular “episode”, as opposed to the series as a whole) suffers from too many red herrings, too much padding, and an overly chatty villain. The eventual solution is pretty well telescoped from early on, and only the constant degeneration of Tanner’s vision and his attempts to keep his condition secret keeps the ship afloat.

Much better is “Parasomnia”, the episode which best captures the noirish vibe the show is aiming for and highlights Tanner’s new unconventional investigatory skills. A gory murder, an amnesiac somnambulist femme fatale, and 90 minutes of Tanner slowly losing his mind to insomnia, paranoia and mounting frustration, this is the high point of the series, a riveting mini-film that would actually do well as a theatrical release.

The other two installments are engaging if not quite as enthralling. In “Hide and Seek”, Tanner is promoted to the head of a new crack unit of homicide, tackling stubborn and/or sensational cases. The first is a cold case of a murdered violinist, the unsolved status of which is a black eye on the face of the London PD. Meanwhile, Tanner and Tully’s relationship starts to buckle under the weight of his condition (how no one else notices on the staff that their chief is blind is beyond me – a great running gag if deliberate, a brutal oversight if not)

“Kingdom of the Blind” strains for political and personal poignancy with the case of a murdered black community leader, a decrepit old white supremacist, and Tanner’s finally coming to terms with his professional and personal life. The series ends here (for now), on an ambiguous note, Tanner striding forth into a blurry, hazy future (there are talks of reviving the show as a feature film, though details are… blurry for now).

Second Sight is finally collected in one DVD set a good decade after it went off the air. Previous releases of the individual installments had no special feature, and this has not been rectified with this collection, which is as bare bones as it gets. Spread out over five discs, the programs are slightly grainy, which actually enhances the look and feel of the show. I would have wanted something, anything, with Clive Owen talking about his first big starring role, before Hollywood came a calling.

[zillasonacid]

[johnsbookshelf]

📚 🅱🅾🅾🅺 🆃🅾🆄🆁 🆁🅴🆅🅸🅴🆆 📚 𝙒𝙃𝘼𝙏 𝘿𝙊𝙀𝙎𝙉'𝙏 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆 𝙐𝙎 by Helen Sedgwick ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thanks to Love Books Tours for including me on the tour. I'm thrilled to share my thoughts today on What Doesn't Break Us. 𝙈𝙔 𝙍𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙀𝙒 I far been looking forward to this book since reading the first two in the trilogy, and I was not disappointed.  Now while this can be read as a standalone novel I strongly recommend you read the trilogy in order. There are numerous references to previous events, and by this stage the characters are already well established and developed. You’ll thank me later. So, by this stage, Georgie really wants to solve the mysteries of Burrowhead before the police station is decommissioned. Not only was this book as gripping as it's predecessors, but I think it's the best of the trilogy. The story was engaging and a pleasure to read, while the author managed to create even more tense atmosphere, which just added to the dark nature and creepiness. To be honest I thought I had it all worked out, but some excellent misdirection shot my ideas to pieces. Georgie is just as determined to get to the bottom of things while she still has the chance. I like Georgie. A strong female head in what has until relatively recently been a male dominated genre.  Stick her with Lynda LA Plante’s  DCI Jane Tennison and Angela Marsons' DI Kim Store, and there is no crime unsolvable, no criminal safe. She has come a Iong way since the events of When The Dead Come Calling. Overall, I'm a little sad this was the final book, but the author very cleanly left no unanswered questions and closed the trilogy nicely. I'm very happy to recommend this book, repeating the caveat that it should be read as part of the trilogy to fully appreciate how creepy Burrowhead really is, and for better context and character development. I gave What Doesn’t Break Us, by Helen Sedgwick, five stars. I had the privilege of interviewing Helen Sedgwick in the 'Just 5 Minutes' spot on my blog. You can read it by visiting my website. Link in Bio. #ad #gifted #whatdoesntbreakus #helensedgwick #oneworldpublications #lovebookstours #mystery #johnsbookshelf (at Southampton, England, U.K.) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfvD4c4oCxT/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[for-southendgirls]

Tagged by the super awesome @aerosmiley219. Thanks!

Rules: List ten of your favorite female characters in ten different fandoms and then tag ten people. 

1. Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada) 2. Nicola Murray (The Thick of It) 3. DCI Jane Tennison (Prime Suspect) 4. Judge Roberta Kittleson (The Practice)  5. CJ Cregg (The West Wing) 6. Constance Hardbroom (The Worst Witch) 7. Grace Hanson/Frankie Bergstein -- they’re a package deal! (Grace & Frankie) 8. Lucille Bluth (Arrested Development) 9. Gomez!Master (Doctor Who) 10. Ruth Fisher (Six Feet Under)

Hmm... certainly no pattern at all. Nothing to see here. Move along.

I never know who to tag for these things, so if you want to do it and say I tagged you, feel free!

[guncelkal]

Lynda La Plante: I'm still in my prime on Jane Tennison's 30th birthday

Lynda La Plante: I’m still in my prime on Jane Tennison’s 30th birthday

THIRTY years ago, crime writer Lynda La Plante’s iconic creation DCI Jane Tennison blasted on to our TV screens. Tough, brilliant and damaged, her character shook up the genre forever by showing a female detective overcoming sexism and adversity to reach the top. Source

[maria-la-cave]

My top 10 best actors

This is just my silly opinion

There are a lot of amazing actors but picked only 10 and it was very hard

This list is not: "My top 10 most handsome actors and actresses" It's based on the best acting

There are only living actors

I didn't make a list of them, I just wrote them down, because I think there is not "the best"

I am not a native english speaker so I'm very sorry for all the mistakes

Elijah Wood (39)

Elijah Jordan Wood is an american film star and producent. He was born 28th January 1981. He is well known as Frodo Baggins from the Lord of the rings trilogy. But we are not here for that. He began his career when he was a young child in the films like Back to the future II, Flipper or The good son. His newest roles are in the films for example: Come to Daddy, I don't feel at home in this world anymore, The Greasy Strangler. His big role was also Frank Zito in Maniak. He is a brilliant actor because of his amazing expressions. He can act probably almost anything. From the innocent boys to a psychpath. I really love his acting.

Meryl Streep (70)

Mary Louise Streep is an american theatre and film actress. She was born 22nd June 1949. She began her career in a pretty young age and she has acted in a whole list of films. My favourites are for example: Sophie's Choice, Out of Africa, The Iron Lady, Into the woods, She-Devil. She is an amzaing actor and she can also sing very well. You could have seen her in a films like Mamma Mia! singing the whole musical brlliantly!

Jaeden Martell (17)

Jaeden Wesley Lieberher is a very young and talented teenager. He was born 4th January 2003. I am very convinced that he has an amazing potential. His most famous role is probably Bill Denbrough from It and It: Chapter 2 and yes, he is was amazing in these but I think there were even some other great expressions of his. Even though he's so young he has acted in a lot of cool films already for example: Knives Out, The Lodge, Low Tide, Midnight Special and one of my most favourites The book of Henry. He acted an ingenious child in his 11 years, his expressions were perfect and he also acted death absolutely phenomenally. He made me literally cry for 2 hours straight.

Helen Mirren (74)

Dame Helen Lydia Mirren is a british actress and director. She was born 26th July 1945. She has acted in many great films but the most famous one is a documentary film about the queen of the UK: The Queen. Here are some of my other favourite picks: The good liar, Caligula, Woman in Gold, Anna. She is also well known for her role as DCI Jane Tennison in a show named Prime Suspect. She may look like an old lady but she has a young spirit inside of her that makes every film she is in even more wonderful. I highly recommend The Queen.

Tom Hanks (63)

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is an american film actron, director and producent. His most famous role is probably Forrest Gump which is an amazing one. He is an acting legend and one of the actors in the whole history of acting with the highest salaries. He also acted in wonderful films like Philadelphia, A beautiful day in the neighborhood, Apollo 13, Turner and Hooch (my favourite), Everytime we say goodbye and Cast away. His perceft expressions and movements are just legendary. Unfortunately he has been infected by the COVID-19. I only wish him to get well soon. I wish that to all people that are infected. Act wisely people so we can live all together in peace.

Uzo Aduba (39)

Uzoamaka Nwaneke Aduba is an american actress. She was born 10th February 1981. She way not be one of the most famous actors but she is phenomenal. Her most famous role was in a TV show Orange is the new black as Suzanne Warren who is diagnosed with schizophrenia and some other diagnosis which aren't mentioned in the show. She also acted in for example: Tallulah, Beats, Mrs. America, Miss Virginia.

Sean Connery (89)

Sir Thomas Sean Connery is a scotish actor and producent. He was born 25th August 1930. He is famous for his role James Bond. He was the absolute first actor who playied James Bond in the history. He is brilliant and awesome, his huge charisma makes him even cooler. He acted in for example: The Untouchables, Past, Never say never, Dr. No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Diamonds are forever.

Millie Bobby Brown (16)

Millie Bobby Brown is a british actor, singer and model. She was born 19th February 2004. Even though I don't like her much like a person (I am sorry, don't blame me, it's just my silly opinion) I have to admit she is a fantastic actress. She is well known for her role in a TV show Stranger things as a mysterious girl Eleven. Her expressions and acting are unbelieavble for that young person. She's amazing! She acted also in for example: Intruders, Spheres, The year: 2016, Godzilla II: King of monsters.

Timothée Chalamet (24)

Timothée Chalamet is a french-american actor. He was born 27th December 1995. His career started a few short films like Spinners. I think he doesn't have a one the most famous role because he's fantastic in every film. He acted in for example: Call me by your name, Lady Bird, Beautidul boy, The king, Little women, Hot summer nights. He will also appear in an upcoming comedy-drama film The French Dispatch.

Jennifer Lawrence (29)

Jennifer Shrader Lawrence is an american actress. She was born 15th August 1990. Her most famous role is probably Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games. She is one of the highest-paid actress and she is also one of the most influenting people in the world. Her acting is amazing. She also acted in other films for example: X-men: Dark Phoenix, Joy, Mother!, Red Sparrow, Passangers.

Honorable mentions: Morgan Freeman, Tom Holland, Johny Depp, Jack Nicholson, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Kathy Bates, Natalie Portman

[emmynominees]

helen mirren as dci jane tennison in prime suspect 4: the scent of darkness

primetime emmy award winner for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie

[dailygrantchester]

could you recommend some other period dramas/shows similar to grantchester? :))

Endeavour

It is a prequel to the long-running Inspector Morse and, like that series, is set primarily in Oxford. Shaun Evans portrays a young Endeavour Morse beginning his career as a Detective Constable with the Oxford City Police CID.

Father Brown

The series is set during the early 1950s, in the fictional Cotswold village of Kembleford, where Father Brown, priest at St Mary’s Catholic Church, solves murder cases. A bumbling police inspector, who often arrests the wrong suspect, gets annoyed by Father Brown’s success.

Miss Marple

Agatha Christie’s Marple (or simply Marple) is a British ITV television series loosely based on the books and short stories by British crime novelist Agatha Christie. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the first to third series, until her retirement from the role, and by Julia McKenzie from the fourth series onwards.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries revolves around the personal and professional life of Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis), a glamorous private detective in 1920s Melbourne.

The Bletchley Circle

The Bletchley Circle is a television mystery drama miniseries, set in 1952–53, about four women who used to work as codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Dissatisfied with the officials’ failure to investigate complex crimes, the women join to investigate for themselves.

The Crimson Field

The series shows the lives of medics and the patients at a fictional field hospital in France during the First World War.

The Hour

The Hour is a 2011 BBC drama series centred on a new current-affairs show being launched by the BBC in June 1956, at the time of the Hungarian Revolution and Suez Crisis. It stars Ben Whishaw, Dominic West, and Romola Garai, with a supporting cast including Tim Pigott-Smith, Juliet Stevenson, Burn Gorman, Anton Lesser, Anna Chancellor, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Oona Chaplin, and Peter Capaldi (series two).

Mr. Selfridge

Mr Selfridge is a British-American period television drama series about Harry Gordon Selfridge and his department store, Selfridge & Co, in London, set from 1908 to 1928.

Prime Suspect 1973

Prime Suspect 1973 (also known as Prime Suspect: Tennison) is a British television detective drama series, and a prequel to the long-running Prime Suspectseries, originally starring Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison.

North and South (film)

It follows the story of Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe), a young woman from southern England who has to move to the North after her father decides to leave the clergy. The family struggles to adjust itself to the industrial town’s customs, especially after meeting the Thorntons, a proud family of cotton mill owners who seem to despise their social inferiors. The story explores the issues of class and gender, as Margaret’s sympathy for the town mill workers clashes with her growing attraction to John Thornton (Richard Armitage)

Little Dorrit

Little Dorrit is a 2008 British miniseries based on the serial novel of the same title by Charles Dickens, originally published between 1855 and 1857.

Non-period dramas that I would highly recommend:

Broadchurch: Broadchurch series one focused on the search for the boy’s murderer by detectives Alec Hardy (played by David Tennant) and Ellie Miller (played by Olivia Colman).

Wallander: Wallander is a British television series adapted from the Swedish novelist Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander novels and starring Kenneth Branagh as the eponymous police inspector.

Death in Paradise: British detective Richard Poole (Ben Miller) is assigned to investigate the murder of a British police officer on the fictional paradise island of Saint Marie in the Caribbean. After he successfully finds the murderer, he is reluctantly required by his supervisors to replace the victim and stay on as the detective inspector (DI) of the island, solving new cases as they appear, and being the object of many fish-out-of-water jokes. At the start of Series 3, Poole is killed and maladroit London detective Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) arrives to investigate the death of his strait-laced predecessor. He then stays in the job as chief investigator on the island.

Shetland: Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing. Set against a hauntingly beautiful landscape, Shetland is based on the best selling books such as Red Bones, Raven Black, Dead Water and Blue.

[ericfruits]

The evolution of police interrogations on screen

POLICE INTERROGATIONS are by their very nature dramatic. The stakes are high. There is an imbalance of power. Those involved are under pressure. Narrative is essential to the proceedings: both the police and the suspect have their own version of events, and seek to convince the other that theirs is correct. Interrogations are also an exercise in character—detectives might play “good cop, bad cop” in an attempt to winkle out a confession. Important clues can be found in what a suspect says, and what they omit.

Little surprise, then, that interrogations have long featured in police procedurals and buddy-cop shows. Television dramas often saw interrogations as a set piece from which the police would emerge as brave, smart and victorious. In “Prime Suspect” (1991), the wily and quick-witted DCI Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) would come alive in front of the one-way glass; DCI John Luther (Idris Elba, pictured below) knew how to push a perpetrator’s buttons. The audience was encouraged to trust the judgment of law enforcement.

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But in recent years, as police brutality and misconduct have made headlines, confessions—and the means by which they are elicited—have been examined more closely on television. “Making a Murderer” (2015), a true-crime documentary, shows Brendan Dassey, a 16-year-old with learning difficulties, confessing to the murder of Teresa Halbach, a photographer, in 2005. Using footage from the interrogation room, the film-makers argue that the police in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, unconstitutionally coerced him in order to bolster their version of events, which until then had little substantial evidence. “The Confession Tapes” (2017) likewise takes contentious real-life confessions and inspects them with a rigour that (according to the show) the justice system has failed to.

“When They See Us” (2019), a four-part series directed by Ava DuVernay, looks at how interrogations, institutional racism and injustice interact. It dramatises the true story of the “Central Park Five”, a group of minority-ethnic boys wrongly convicted in 1990 of rape and assault. During questioning, the accused—all aged between 14 and 16 at the time—were denied food and drink and access to legal counsel. In the show, they are portrayed as sleep-deprived and desperate, subjected to intense off-the-record questioning in cleaning closets and filing rooms. The police threaten the boys with violence if they do not cooperate; detectives are depicted as more interested in finding someone they can pin the crime on than in nailing the actual perpetrator. In that they were successful: their bullying resulted in taped false confessions, and time in prison for the five boys. (In 2002 a court vacated the convictions.)

In “A Confession”, a new British drama also based on true events, the failure of Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher (Martin Freeman) to act above board has severe repercussions for the prosecution of a case. In his eagerness to interrogate a taxi driver suspected of murdering a young woman, he ignores the procedures in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. The man does confess both to the murder in question and to another, but his statement is inadmissible as evidence in court. Here, once again, law enforcement is shown to be prone to making rash, emotional decisions.

“Criminal” (pictured top), released on Netflix on September 20th, pursues that idea and sets up a fictional game of cat-and-mouse between detectives and suspects. The drama in each of the 12 episodes—set in either Britain, France, Germany or Spain—is confined to an interrogation room in an anonymous police station. On one side of the mirror, bright lights illuminate police officers, the accused and, sometimes, a lawyer; on the other, a red-lit backroom hosts office politics, a running commentary on the case’s progress and a ticking digital clock which informs the officers how long they have left until they have to charge the suspects or release them. Lies are exposed, but often not the ones the detectives had intended to uncover. Investigators are manipulated, led down wrong paths and frustrated in their quest. The suspects’ guilt—or innocence—is not always clear.

Where interrogations once allowed TV’s protagonists a chance to outsmart their opponents and heroically solve cases, now they show them to be fallible: think of the interview in “Bodyguard” in which David Budd’s reading of the situation is dangerously wrong. These characters bring their own foibles to bear on cases, and are willing to do whatever is necessary, morally permissible or not, to reinforce their version of events. They can make for difficult viewing, but these new shows offer a satisfying combination of suspense, friction and the search for truth.

https://ift.tt/2nBpd9H

[ethanalter]

‘Prime Suspect: Tennison’: 5 Things to Know About the PBS Prequel

Tommy McDonnell as DC Hudson, Sam Reid as DCI Bradfield, Stefanie Martini as Jane Tennison, Blake Harrison as DS Gibbs, and Joshua Hill as DC Edwards in PBS’s Prime Suspect: Tennison. (Photo: Courtesy of ITV Studios and NoHo Film & Television for ITV and MASTERPIECE)

Last year marked the 25th anniversary of Prime Suspect, the groundbreaking British police drama that gave television one of its all-time great screen detectives: Helen Mirren’s steely Jane Tennison. The actress went on to reprise the role in six additional series that spanned 14 years, culminating in DCI Tennison’s retirement from a job that, at least initially, required her to confront horrific crimes in the field and horrific sexism in the office. With Jane off “enjoying” her retirement, the Prime Suspect‘s minders have decided to continue the series by turning back the clock.

Debuting on Masterpiece Mystery on PBS on June 25 (it previously premiered in England in March), Prime Suspect: Tennison — adapted from a prequel novel by Tennison’s creator, Lynda La Plante — introduces us to a 22-year-old Jane (played by Stefani Martini) at the beginning of her career circa 1973. “You really get to glimpse the origins of this great detective character,” Tennison executive producer Robert Wulff-Cochrane tells Yahoo TV. “Showing her genesis was always the excitement for us.” Here are five things you should know about the return of Jane Tennison, with helpful commentary from Wulff-Cochrane and Martini.

You’ll Experience ’70s-era London in All its Youthful Glory Sandwiched in between London’s swinging ’60s and Thatcheristic ’80s were the fresh-faced ’70s, when young people sought to shake up the staid status quo. “You had the this great explosion of youth culture,” ways Wulff-Cochrane. “Swinging London is over, but what’s been left behind is this ambition for the young people at the time, and Jane utterly summons that up.” As he points out, England’s formerly separate male and female police forces were only merged in 1972, the year before the series begins, making Tennison something of a pioneer when she enlists in the newly gender-integrated department. “She’s young, inexperienced and new to the world of policing,” Martini explains, adding that Jane’s life is also complicated by the fact that she’s still living at home. “Earlier, people would live in their parents’ house until they got married, and that’s when you’d move out. Now people go to university and can get out of the house, but she’s still at home in this cramped, awkward way. It’s really fun to explore the music and clothing of that period. The clothing is incredibly unforgiving. And the facial hair! I found that really funny.”

Martini and Sam Reid in Prime Suspect: Tennison. (Photo Credit: ITV Studios/NoHo Film & Television)

‘Suspect’ Shows Sexism Is in Its Heyday The original Prime Suspect series found Tennison frequently butting heads with the entrenched misogyny amongst her male colleagues on the police force. That fell away in future editions as she proved her mettle over and over again. Since Tennison is set just after male and female officers have been placed in the same workplace, sexism is, once again, a pronounced problem. “It was accepted in the workplace,” Martini says. “Jane has to fight to be heard and make a case for herself.” But Wulff-Cochrane does point out that she has some allies on the force. “Jane has a male boss [played by Sam Reid] who is incredibly encouraging and sees real talent in her. It was important for us to show that there are good and bad people in any institution.”

Helen Mirren Gave the Show Her Blessing Although the Oscar-winning actress never dropped by the Tennison set, Mirren let it be known that she was happy to hear the character she created would have new life. “We needed to find an actress who not only shared certain physical characteristics, but also felt like she had the weight and technical ability to deliver a performance that would make people feel like this could be a young Helen Mirren,” Wulff-Cochrane says of the casting process. “To be honest, very early on Stefani stood out as an exceptional actress. She had this quality where you wanted to watch her.”

Martini as Jane Tennison in PBS’s Prime Suspect: Tennison and Helen Mirren as DCI Jane Tennison in ‘Prime Suspect’ (Photo Credit: ITV Studios/NoHo Film & Television)

Martini, whose past credits include ITV’s Doctor Thorne and NBC’s Emerald City, says she has yet to speak with her predecessor personally, which might be a good thing. “I think I’d just melt,” she says laughing, when asked what she’d say first if she ever has a face-to-face with Mirren. “I don’t know that I’d be able to say anything. Just thank her really; her work is brilliant and she’s inspirational in so many ways.” Martini says that she made a point not to study the previous Prime Suspect series too closely. “I just focused on the work, and tried not to think too much about what it meant. It was only when the series started airing in England that I realized how big it was!”

Jane Tennison Wasn’t Always So Tough Remember how different you were at age 22? The same goes for this version of Jane, who has yet to become the cynical, chain-smoking cop we met in 1991. “What we see here is a very bright, ambitious young woman who hasn’t had any knocks yet,” says Wulff-Cochrane. “We wanted to begin this story with some of her underlying characteristics: she’s really smart and really ambitious, but she’s not drinking and she’s not smoking. I hope people enjoy that sense of being able to spot the formative aspects of her character, as well as the way events shape her.” Still, Martini does promise that you’ll see some of that famed Tennison “hardness” by the end of the prequel series. “She’s exposed to a kind of violence and is changed by the end of it. I like to think you can see that strength in her.”

This May Not Be the End of the Beginning With two decades separating the Martini and Mirren versions of Jane Tennison, there’s plenty of room for additional stories set along the Prime Suspect timeline, should the series continue. “If feels like we’ve got a lot of years in her life that could be covered,” Wulff-Cochrane points out. “I think there’s a fascination with her as a character, and there’s a lot you can do with her in terms of her emotional professional development. She’s got a long way to go.”

Prime Suspect: Tennison premieres Sunday, June 25 at 10 p.m. on Masterpiece Mystery on PBS

[jacnaylor]

new/upcoming british tv recs

see posts 1-9 of general british tv recs here (link to post nine that includes links to all the others): http://jacnaylor.tumblr.com/post/156053744834/british-tv-recs-9

1. Cormoran Strike

Now most of these don’t have definite release dates yet, so for this one you still have time to read the books. Because for those of you who don’t know, this is Jk Rowling’s private detective books. A stellar cast lead by Tom Burke - who played the miserable yet enigmatic Athos on The musketeers, and who will probably be as equally miserable and enigmatic in this. He’s joined by Holliday Grainger who’s always a+. Cormoran and Robin solve cases and generally get into scrapes. I always love a good crime drama, and this one looks to have a really cool dynamic!

2. The good karma hospital

So this one actually is airing atm, and we’re about 4 eps in. Following young doctor Ruby Walker as she travels to work in india after her real life in england falls apart. Great locations, funny side characters and a lot of silly adventures, this one is a fun treat for a sunday night when you just want something with sunshine!

3. The replacement

This is airing the 28th of feb on bbc1. It follows Ellen (aka the wonderful Morven Christie), who discovers she is pregnant after securing a big contract with her architect firm. She hires Paula (the also wonderful Vicky Mclure) to shadow her so that she can be her maternity cover. Only Ellen becomes increadingly convinced that Paula is trying to push her out completley. Looks like a really gripping thriller where no one is what they seem, and it’s focused on the lives of two different women, which is always a bonus.

4. SS-GB

This just aired it’s first ep, and it’s a brooding, gritty period drama imagining what a 1940′s britain would be like if Germany had won the battle of britain and thus invaded. Following a very raspy voiced cop as he toes the line between peacekeeping and resistance, it looks like the action is gonna keep building!

5. Prime suspect 1973

So if you haven’t seen prime suspect, it’s one of those shows everyone used to watch when it was on. This might have been mostly to do with Helen Mirren being an amazing lead, so there’s a rec for you. But this one is the same concept as Endeavour (the inspector morse prequels) where they take a look at her earlier life. Because before Jane Tennison was a DCI solving crimes and putting up with sexism she was a WPC solving crimes and putting up with even more sexism. Looks like it’s going to be a cool little period piece with crime and a strong leading lady. Airing on itv on the 2nd of march.

6. Britannia

No definite release date yet, this looks like its going to be a big one. Following in the footsteps of game of thrones and the last kingdom, this is an epic following an ensemble during the roman/celtic battles and divides. A great cast, I’m always on the lookout for more historical drama.

7. The moorside

This two parter just aired about a week or two ago, and man this is a tough one. I don’t know how it is in other places, but ask anyone here over about twenty and they will know the story of Shannon Matthews. In 2008, a little girl went missing for a month only to be found alive - it’s what came out about her abduction after that shocked everyone. This is all true and it’s still a close subject to a lot of people (they didn’t film it on the real moorside estate because they thought it would still be too distressing). This miniseries follows a woman in the community who lead the community marches and search parties. This might get to me more because I remember this happening, but knowing the ending makes things a little harder to watch. This is emotional and its the nearest we’ll get to what went on. It’s sad but there’s also a sort of hopeful message, because this is a story about how a lower class community defied expectations and banded together, only to find out they had all been lied to. An important watch even if you know the story or not.

[lezziemanville]

Dame Helen Mirren was asked what DCI Jane Tennison, her character from Prime Suspect, would be doing now. To the surprise of many, Mirren said: “She’s a lesbian, living with a very attractive female partner.”

[spin-vs-truth]

Prime Suspect (3)

In the 1990s, a then groundbreaking crime series, “Prime Suspect” with a then out of the ordinary female lead character DCI Jane Tennison (played by Helen Mirren in an award winning role) was aired. The series was created and several of it’s episodes written by crime writer Lynda La Plante.

The first two series of “Prime Suspect”concentrated on Tennison’s handling of prejudices within the…