Prime Suspect: Series 3, Episode 1 (1993)

 

This was a PC project that I had my eye on from the start.  Come on – Ciarán Hinds, David Thewlis, Mark Strong, and the glorious Helen Mirren?  I'm there.  I'm halfway through this two-part season and... well, let's just say I'm not disappointed.

 

Prime Suspect was a long-running British crime drama, starring Mirren as DCI Jane Tennyson.  Series 3 finds her starting a new job, heading up a vice squad.  As first days go, she's not exactly eased into it.  She arrives the morning after a dead rent boy has been pulled out of a burned-down flat.  An investigation into the boy's death quickly begins to point toward larger implications:  there's a menacing pimp, a secret stash of child pornography, and pressure from above not to delve too deeply into the case.

 

PC plays Vera Reynolds, a timid transwoman brought in for questioning.  She owned the flat in which the dead boy was found, and the police suspect her first of killing him and later of knowing more than she's telling.  

 

This is a really great performance.  In the interrogation room, Vera is like a delicate, spooked bird.  She's just lost her home, someone she knew has died there, and she's being treated like a criminal, a freak, and possibly a criminal on account of being a freak.  She doesn't visibly flinch as the officers repeatedly call her Mr. Reynolds, but you can feel her flinch.  She's a very evocative character.  You can feel her distress and confusion, the shame that's being thrust upon her, and most of all, the fear of what will happen if she reveals what she knows.

 

I'm excited to see the second half, both so I can figure out who murdered the boy and why, and so I can see more of Vera!

 

Accent Watch

 

It sounds mostly RP, but there might be a little northern thrown in there.  Many of the characters have northern accents, which could be biasing my ears.  Also, Vera's voice is pretty quiet and pitched up a bit, so it's a little harder to tell.  I'll try to figure out for sure next time.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – Yeah.  It's a good mystery, the acting is great, and Jane is an excellent leading lady.  She's tough and smart, and she has a driving curiosity that's just so admirable.

 

PC-wise – Yes; PC is stellar.  Even though I can't say he looks too much like a woman, he really seems like one, and his Vera is greatly sympathetic.

 

Warnings

 

Lots of frank discussion of solicitation, sex, drug use, and pornography, all involving minors.  “Thematic elements” puts it mildly.  However, it's pretty much entirely kept to discussion – nothing explicit is depicted.  Probably on par with some of the more intense Law & Order:  SVU episodes.