Prime Suspect 1 [DVD] [1991] [US Import] [NTSC]

I don't think people who watch this series will fail to see the sheer quality performances of all actors involved. The acting is so real that it makes you forget that this is entertainement. The interaction between the professional and personal lives of the characters is breath-takingly brought to the screen. There is no holding back for commercial reasons on depicting the personalities as they really are, for better for worse. This show is the closest to real life I have seen so far and it is a tribute to how people actually are. So if you have been hard done by then this will be your déjà-vu and probably bring back some surpressed memmories as the series is somewhat 'noire'. Nevertheless it is a masterpiece and a must see for serious drama lovers out there.

I saw this when it first came out and remembered it as being outstanding so in the absence of any decent modern TV I bought it. I watched it yesterday and felt compelled to write this review. Films & TV appear to have gone backwards in terms of quality. Whilst watching this I kept imagining how the same drama would be presented today and was saddened to realize how awful modern film techniques have become. It was a joy to follow the plot with no time-zone jumping, without endless over-complicated, fast frame-rate shots and without that annoyingly loud continuous sound track of pointless music that producers seem bent on inflicting on the viewer. This drama dates back to a time when viewers had longer attention spans and the need to constantly bombard the audiences brains with visual and audio information in order to prevent them from switching off was not an issue, thus allowing the actors to act and the plot to develop in a natural and chronological order, wonderful. Most modern dramas leave me with the impression that hoards of adolescent technicians have been endlessly tinkering with camera shots, lighting, sound effects and sound editing to such an extent as to render the actual production unwatchable by all but the most inattentive schoolchild. Prime Suspect requires none of this modern superficiality to hold your attention, it does it by employing careful execution of plot line and wonderfully realistic acting. It is like all good dramas should be, nitty-gritty and very realistic with believable characterization and thought provoking, twisting plot line. Very Hitchcockian. I will most certainly be investing in more episodes and I am sure that anyone who buys this will be doing the same. I cannot understand why modern film makers praise films of this nature and hold directors like Hitchcock in such high regard and yet go out and totally ignore what they should have learned and churn out the same old cliched garbage that everyone else is producing. When will they come to their senses and return to creating compelling dramas such as this which people can watch and be engulfed in without having to endure the bombardment of distractions of what has become modern film production techniques. Give yourself a treat, buy this.

This series is the epitome of what a good cop series should be about. An in-depth investigation, showing the failures as well as the successes, showing times when the police can so easily be knocked off the scent by what appears to be a good lead but most of all:- a really top quality actor/actress in the lead role, supported by other great performances.

Helen Mirren's character has all of our insecurities but also has something we all wish for - a true inner strength. From the first story, where she is almost fighting against her own team to find the guilty party, right through to the final episode at the end of her career, the character development is second to none. There have been a great number of long running cop shows including Frost (UK) and Columbo (US) but none have such a character development as this.

When you compare the '18' certificate of this series to the '18' certificate of, say, "The Sopranos" (one of my other favourite series), the latter is full of very vicious killings and almost continuous (and on occasion very crude) swearing. Prime Suspect is different, it's an '18' because there is alcoholism, in-depth details of murder, abortion and the like but never "in-your-face" violence or foul language. Good acting, good storylines and good productions don't need it. This is an '18' solely because of the story content.

If ever there was a series that deserved more than 5 stars, this is it.

Very, very highly recommended.