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So, had it been a normal stand-alone program about a young woman constable supposed to be working on her first murder case in a benighted police environment over 40 years ago, the drama which was broadcasted yesterday evening would have, in all its competence, served as an hour’s entertainment. But, for it and its audience, the drama was named Prime Suspect 1973 (ITV) and the officer’s name was Jane Tennison and because of that, it was guardedly able to come out from underneath the shadow of the original and the burden of expectations it had to meeting.
So far, the plot has none of the grip that the “real” Prime Suspect’s straight forward depiction of socially relevant episodes with deep intricacies (mainly around the earlier series) had to offer. A 17-year old runaway drug using prostitute, Julie, was discovered strangled to death behind the streets of Hackney. A post-mortem exposes her to be pregnant. He is a fellow junkie boyfriend and unto her, Eddie is found and says the last time he sauntered her was after “something happened” which made her get into a red Jaguar. Eddie, who had been complied in a hospital, escapes before he is recovered to be more useful. However, he arrives at the Julie’s parents house as the credits roll.
Simultaneously, an ex convict, Clifford Bentley, played by Alun Armstrong, is instructing the execution of a bank robbery that is to be done by his sons for his gang king Clay Whiteley. Clay is already undermining Clifford’s nerves by having Clifford’s wife mugged, which seems to be his preferred tool to motivate recidivists. Tennison did not intend to but did happen to stumble upon Bentley’s family in relation to the inquiries done around the murder of Julia.
So far, the characters appear to most be simple characters without depth in comparison to their actors in the original version. Tennison has had the hardest time so far as she has not been assigned additional tasks apart from identifying details in the case that hint at the possibility of Julia trying to escape before being killed. It was determined that she was strangled by a strapless bra. What many people with basic intelligence would consider as such does indeed serve to exemplify the unique insights that women on the force can provide.
The attention to detail is moderate, they did not take the ‘Life on Mars’ route, but the cars and outfits are right, and there are a few afros and mustaches here and there. But there are things that do not add up. The first one has to do with two policemen talking to each other, which consists mostly of, “How you not know about Watergate? Nixon? It is all over the news,” in speech so abstract it is unfathomable I am surprised Tricky Dick did not rise from his grave to scream. The other instance is Tennison’s transformation. She looks like a blonde wigged Barbie doll that came to life, and dressed herself in a cop’s uniform just so she could go out and patrol for a few hours. Every time she comes on screen one has to go through mental gymnastics, which is their enemy to mood and is rather unfair on the actor because there was never enough reason to care about her character.
But this is just the first of six episodes. It is good enough; quite wisely, the rest of the men are not vile loathsome creatures. Even if there is a chance at breathing more easily because the misogyny is dispersed like a fog through everything. The plot and script ought to deepen, even if we are not likely to see robust improvements on Prime Suspect.
The Attack: Terror in the UK (BBC2) which aired yesterday, began with former head of Met’s counter terrorism Richard Walton from 2011-2016 stating that there is a lot that keeps him awake at night. He specifically mentioned a mass firearms attack too many people find familiar, like the shootout that occurred in the Westgate mall in Nairobi where 4 gunmen took 67 lives and injured 175 others. What troubles Richard the most is knowing that there is a mass AK-47 gun attack with no reason whatsoever can occur anytime. He claims that there is around a thousand terror suspects waiting to make their move and there are resources only available to monitor a fraction of these suspects. Ex al-Qaida fighter Airmen Dean mentioned some of the attack tactics he was taught. Also, Professor Peter Neumann discussed the recruitment of radicalized prisoners in his center for International Radicalization Studies. This was followed by a simulation, supplemented with true captions, of the formation and planning of a terrorist attack and how the security services would rush to counter it.
I do not know what purpose this hybrid served. If the point was to elicit for more funding for counter terrorism, then more of the terrifying quotations by experts would seem of a need. If it was meant towards raising appreciation on how radicalization takes place, then a serious drama would fit. This dual focus approach especially ran the risk of raising the undue fear that already engulfs the country. A scheme that evokes more hopelessness and despair is what the world does not need right now.
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