This review contains spoilers. Tennison’s curiosity about a murder case isn’t encouraged by Harris, but DI Bradfield (Sam Reid) is impressed by her keenness and brings her on board the investigation. Teenager Julie Ann Collins has been found strangled in the nearby Kingsmead estate’s underground car park. Door-to-door enquiries turn up a few leads from the suspicious residents, and the appearance of the victim’s drug-addicted boyfriend Eddie Philips (Jacob James Beswick) at her squalid flat yields more insight into her bleak life than her devastated parents, living a world away in suburban comfort, can offer Bradfield and Tennison when they visit to break the news. Hints that there may be more to this case than is at first apparent are provided by glimpses of Clifford Bentley (Alun Armstrong), a career criminal who’s desperate to get out of the bank job he must commit on his release at the behest of local gangland boss Clay Whitely. Bentley’s wife Renee (Ruth Sheen) was, it turns out, the victim of the mugging in which Tennison tried to intervene. The assault was no accident, but a warning to her husband to stick to the arrangement. Prime Suspect 1973 comes loaded with expectations. We’ve met Jane Tennison before, but in circumstances far removed from these. The tough, brilliant Detective Chief Inspector was played by Helen Mirren in seven series of the original Prime Suspect from 1991 to 2006. Lynda La Plante’s iconic character fights against ingrained prejudice as she deals with the isolation and immense responsibility of her job, while retaining her instinctive compassion for victims and their families. The price she pays for this relentless pressure is a growing dependence on alcohol, an addiction she acknowledges and takes steps to conquer at the end of the series. This six-episode prequel is an adaptation of La Plante’s book, Tennison; the author herself was initially involved in the show, but has since withdrawn from its development. Glen Laker (responsible for Vera and Home Fires) has taken up the task of adapting her novel for the small screen, a difficult job given the elder Tennison’s status as one of the most memorable female characters in television history. ITV has set a high standard for period crime procedurals with its hugely successful Endeavour, and those hoping for a richly evoked 1970s atmosphere won’t be disappointed. Tennison’s Hackney is all damp concrete and grimy browns, in stark contrast with the scrubbed domesticity of her middle-class, Maida Vale home. From flares to Watergate, the era’s references are all present and correct, set to a soundtrack laden with rock and reggae. It’s far from a nostalgia trip, though; like the casual sexism faced by Tennison and Morgan, the cultural touchstones are welcome background to an engrossing mystery. Our lazy assumptions about the decade’s attitudes are reinforced by some scenes, and challenged by others. Tennison thoughtlessly refers to her squeamishness at dealing with the death of a ‘murdered prostitute’, and is sharply reminded by Bradfield that Julie Ann was also somebody’s daughter. The scene in which the pair must break the news of the young woman’s murder to her parents is devastating, thanks to sensitive performances from Geoffrey Streatfeild and Nancy Carroll as the grief-stricken couple. Tennison’s own family troubles provide a point of contrast as she grapples with her well-meaning mum’s attempts to persuade her to be more like her sister, whose upcoming wedding highlights the many differences between them. Geraldine Somerville strikes the right note of affectionate condescension as she laments her daughter’s priorities in life, which don’t leave much time for assessing the merits of bridesmaids’ dresses.
