Product: Prime Suspect [VHS] (1992)
Rating: 4.0
Fight fire with fire...? It does work for her...
OK, let's take a 50-something, not-so-pretty lady. Let's make her a top crime unit detective. Let's make her drink, smoke, sleep with married men, and give hell to her male colleagues and superiors. Finally, let's make her the heroin of a TV series. OK, at that point you know you're not in the US anymore... And you're right. Welcome to the BBC and to one very real[istic] detective show. Helen Mirren is one a few actresses that could make you care about such an anti-hero character. And she does. Her uncompromising, in-your-face ways are primarily aimed at putting an end to the activities of very, very bad guys. And we do like her ways in that context. We are even prepared to take the emotional package that comes with them. The "Prime Suspect" series is neither suitable for kids, nor young or faint-of-heart adults. But it provides other interested viewers with a prime window on the professional and personal pressures of those who combat the most heinous types of crime. This type of TV show is one of the reasons why the BBC has often been copied but never really matched.