TV - Prime Suspect 1973

Stefanie Martini, Sam Reid, Blake Harrison and Alun Armstrong star in the much-anticipated prequel to Prime Suspect, starting next week on ITV...

Adapted from Lynda La Plante’s bestselling novel, Tennison, Prime Suspect 1973 stars Stefanie Martini as the young WPC Jane Tennison. The six-part drama charts the rise of the novice policewoman as she assists in her first murder investigation, revealing her first steps towards becoming the complex and formidable character that viewers have come to know.

Adapted by Glen Laker, the series is set, as you would expect, in 1970s Hackney, where women police constables are slowly being integrated into the force. Amongst them is 22-year-old Jane, a naïve yet determined probationary officer learning the ropes in a world where high-ranking police officers are notoriously chauvinistic and the rules often bent.

Working alongside her superior, DI Bradfield (Sam Reid), Tennison is thrown in at the deep end on her first case, experiencing London’s violent criminal ganglands first hand and witnessing the devastating effects that such crimes have.

Episode 1, due to air on ITV next Thursday, 2nd March, at 9pm, at sees probationer WPC Jane Tennison become immersed in her first murder investigation when the body of teenager, Julie Ann Collins, is found in the underground car park of a Hackney housing estate.

Jane’s superior DI Bradfield believes that the victim’s drug addict boyfriend, Eddie Phillips, is involved in the crime, tracking him down for questioning. However, despite Bradfield and DS Gibbs (Blake Harrison) being convinced that he is hiding something, the interview is cut short when Eddie collapses and is sent to hospital.

Meanwhile, with his release from prison imminent, renowned criminal Clifford Bentley (Alun Armstrong) is preparing for an upcoming bank robbery that he and his family are carrying out for gangland kingpin Clay Whitely. With information reaching him that his wife, Renee, has been attacked as a warning from Whitely though, he becomes nervous.

At home, Jane’s mother voices concerns about Jane’s chosen vocation and wishes she were more like her younger sister, Pam, who is about to be married. However, determined and ambitious Jane is adamant she’s going to help catch the killer.



Image - ITV