Prime Suspect is a British police procedural television drama series created by Lynda La Plante which focuses on a no-nonsense female Detective Chief Inspector, Jane Tennison, who is attached to the Metropolitan Police division, and chronicles how she survives and thrives in a male-dominated profession.
The series aired in the UK on ITV as a series of made-for-TV movies from 7 April, 1991 to 22 October, 2006. In syndication each story typically airs as four-part seasons. There are seven seasons in the series in total.
The series originally aired in South Africa on M-Net and later aired on DStv's Movie Magic 2 (which later became M-Net Movies 2) channel, as a series of standalone movies. Broadcast dates of the original run of the series are not available.
Prime Suspect premiered in South Africa on DStv's Sony Entertainment Television (SONY) channel on Monday 18 July 2011, at 20h30. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 7 premiered on SONY on Saturday 3 March 2012, at 23h05. The second episode aired the following week at 22h50. There are two episodes in the seventh and final season.
Synopsis
Prime Suspect stars Helen Mirren as the tough, chain-smoking London detective Jane Tennison.
Hired into a boys' club Police Department to solve an ongoing investigation involving a police cover-up, Tennison is at first met with resentment and aggression from her male co-workers.
Eventually, however, her outstanding capability wins them over.
Season 1 (click for full synopsis)
DCI Jane Tennison is a skilled, top-class detective, battling to prove herself in a male world.
While investigating a murder, her strength of character and skills as a detective are put to the test as she exposes a cover-up within the force.
And when a second murder victim is discovered, the inquiry turns into a grisly investigation stretching back over ten years.
Season 2 (click for full synopsis)
Prime Suspect 2 starts with the unexpected discovery of a corpse in a street that forms part of a largely Afro-Caribbean neighbourhood in London. The investigation into the corpse's identity, and how it came to lie in its burial place, is long and complex.
DCI Jane Tennison is called upon to use all her powers of ingenuity, courage and compassion in the inquiry.
Facing the political disapproval of her colleagues, she refuses to accept stereotypical solutions to complex questions.
Season 3 (click for full synopsis)
Prime Suspect again tackles an often difficult issue in its third outing, written by Lynda La Plante. The new series looks at homophobia within the police force and tackles perceptions of gender and sex.
DCI Tennison has been transferred to a new station and has the new job of "cleaning up the streets" of Soho.
Following an apartment fire and the death of the boy Connie, Tennison leads the team deep into the vice underworld of teenage prostitution, pornography and abuse.
Thick with corruption and runaway children, this is no ordinary homicide case.
Season 4 (click for full synopsis)
Three different stories are presented in Prime Suspect 4 which finds the newly promoted Jane Tennison, now working for the Area Major Investigation Team, assigned to different stations to head up major inquiries.
After making some tough personal decisions, Tennison returns to old territory in London's Southampton Row station to find herself working against the clock to trace abducted toddler Vicki Covington in The Lost Child.
Inner Circles takes Tennison to a very different part of London - an affluent commuter suburb - to investigate a bizarre death. The case exposes the web of fraud, local government corruption and hollow relationships that can lie beneath the respectable veneer of the community.
And in The Scent of Darkness, Tennison faces personal and professional conflicts as, for the first time in her career, she begins to doubt whether the pressure of her job and her obsessive relationship with it are worth jeopardizing another romance for.
A series of murders take place bearing a chilling resemblance to those Tennison investigated in Prime Suspect 1. Are they copycat crimes?
Season 5 (click for full synopsis)
DS Jane Tennison is relocated from the Met to the Greater Manchester Police where she finds herself in conflict with her new superior, Det Chief Supt Martin Ballinger, over how to deal with the city's drugs and guns menace.
Encountering a corrupt reprobate who rules over the local crime scene and believing him to be her prime suspect, Tennison finds her every move in the investigation anticipated - but how?
Season 6 (click for full synopsis)
The story finds Tennison, 54, now a high-ranking Detective Superintendent at the London Metropolitan Police, managing the big picture on dozens of murder investigations.
But Jane can't resist taking a hands-on role investigating the brutal torture and murder of a young Bosnian refugee.
When her prime suspect turns out to be a "minor" war criminal given a new life in the UK after identifying higher profile war criminals, Tennison's quest for justice becomes increasingly complicated.
Season 7 (click for full synopsis)
Helen Mirren reprises her iconic role as the formidable Detective Superintendent Tennison one last time, as her exemplary career heads towards its inevitable conclusion. Jane is paying dearly for 35 years of repressed rage and loneliness.
When the body of missing schoolgirl Sallie Sturdy is discovered, the hunt for her killer begins.
But as Tennison and her team work to identify their prime suspect, the emotional fallout from the brutal murder starts to take its toll.
Seasons
Note: these details are for the run of the show on SONY only. Original broadcast dates for the run on M-Net and Movie Magic 2 are not available.
Season 1 (4 episodes)
Premiere: 18 July 2011 | Finale: 8 August 2011 | Mondays, 20h30
Season 2 (4 episodes)
Premiere: 15 August 2011 | Finale: 5 September 2011 | Mondays, 20h30
Season 3 (2 episodes)
Premiere: 12 September 2011 | Finale: 19 September 2011 | Mondays, 20h30
Season 4 (3 episodes)
Premiere: 26 September 2011 | Finale: 10 October 2011 | Mondays, 20h30
Season 5 (2 episodes)
Premiere: 30 January 2012 | Finale: 6 February 2012 | Mondays, 20h30
Season 6 (2 episodes)
Premiere: 13 February 2012 | Finale: 20 February 2012 | Mondays, 20h30
Season 7 (2 episodes)
Premiere: 3 March 2012 | Finale: 10 March 2012 | Saturdays, 23h00