SnoopyStyle DCI Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) breaks up with her boyfriend Jake Hunter. He's married and an author of a serial killer book. She's starting a new job and finds old nemesis Sgt. Bill Otley (Tom Bell). They investigate an arson-murder involving underage rent-boys and a cross-dressing cabaret. Thuggish James Jackson (David Thewlis) is the prime suspect. Edward Parker-Jones (Ciarán Hinds) is the club owner. The clientele and police involvement threaten to be a scandal.Helen Mirren is the lead. This show can never be bad with her driving the boat. This time Otley is back but he's somewhat domesticated. The vicious sexism is no longer there. The case is lascivious and dirty. This is solid TV police drama but nothing compared to series 1 part 1.

paudie I'm running out of superlatives for the Prime Suspect series. Series 3 is another gripping crime drama, this time set against the background of the world of London rent boys. Despite it's lengthy we were tempted to watch in one sitting, though we didn't quite manage it! The highlights this time are long scenes showing DCI Tennison interviews witnesses and suspects. This shows Helen Mirren at her finest, portraying an intelligent police detective who knows exactly how to structure an interview to get the truth from people.The theme of police corruption also looms large right from the very start. Glimpses of Tennison's rather sad personal life are also shown.She's still off the ciggies though!

kaaber-2 "Keeper of Souls" is IMO the best of the Prime Suspect series because it's the darkest of the lot. In the end, justice is only partly served by proxy - a muckraking, obnoxious journalist - and we don't even see it happening; we leave the plot as Tennyson, having failed to get a conviction from, or produce conclusive evidence on Parker-Jones (an excessively scary Ciaran Hinds) who is clearly guilty as charged, abandons the files in the interview room for the journalist to peruse and plunder.We have become used to crime stories without happy endings - most notably in the Law & Order series - but "Keeper of the Souls" is particularly disturbing because it deals with the organized abuse of children and a pedophile ring leading to Police HQ and hushed up by authority.However, the greatest feat is that the story - on such a bleak background - presents us with a string of extremely touching destinies; the drag artist who tries to help, but is too frightened to offer anything but vague clues that Tennyson is unable to decipher; the policeman who is placed on the squad to spy on Tennyson, but who switches allegiance after being bitten by an AIDS-infected boy, another policeman who earns Tennyson's respect by admitting in front of the team that he is gay, the two underage boys who die during the investigation, and, most notably, Tennyson suffering a 30 seconds breakdown after having decided to have her pregnancy terminated, thus giving up on having children altogether, a decision which will continue to haunt her throughout the series (until the final episode in which she befriends the 14-year-old Penny whom she sees as the daughter she might have had – only to find out that she is the killer Tennyson has been looking for).At the end of "Keeper," almost nothing is solved; we don't know if the bitten police spy (who turns out to be a good guy after all) has really contracted AIDS, and there is no legal prosecution of the killer, only an indication that he may be exposed in the press (and will probably not sue the paper for fear of further investigation, we must conclude).All of two unexpected star appearances flank Mirren: As the reluctant victim of abuse who refuses to testify in court we see Jonny Lee Miller just before he rose to stardom with "Trainspotting", and David Thewliss – fresh from "Naked" – appears as a terrifying hit-man.

grendelkhan Prime Suspect 3 is by far the darkest of the series. It also marks the departure of series creator and writer Lynda La Plante. The later series suffer from her absence.SPOILERS: Helen Mirren returns as DCI Tennison, newly transferred to Vice. She finds herself reunited with old nemesis Sgt. Bill Otley. Otley still doesn't like her, but they forge a wary alliance to conduct an investigation into the death of a young male prostitute, which overlaps with an ongoing effort to clean up a problem with "rent boys", male child prostitutes. The operations have been compromised at every turn and there are rumors of a cover-up. Tennison comes across characters like Vera Reynolds, a female impersonator and friend of the murder victim; James Jackson, a pimp and dangerous predator; and Edward Parker-Jones, an apparent humanitarian administrator of a youth center, with a hidden, evil past.Tennison finds herself stonewalled at every turn and becomes suspicious of her superiors' motives. She uncovers spies within her team and secrets upon secrets.The performances are spectacular. Mirren is always good in these productions. Tom Bell adds new dimension to the misogynist Otley. He shows a humane side when he talks with the young exploited boys. David Thewlis moves across the screen like a wolf among lambs; a flawless performance. Peter Capaldi is riveting as the fragile and frightened Vera/Vernon Reynolds.The series examines the dark and sinister world of these young, exploited "rent boys". Most are runaways, living on the streets. It also examines the lives of homosexuals and the prejudices they often face; and, the courage it takes to live openly, as illustrated by an officer on Tennison's team. It enters the horrid world of pedophiles and shows how they destroy innocent lives. It also shows how many equate homosexuality with pedophilia, through the attitudes of many on the police force. The series takes the courageous route by showing good and bad examples amongst the gay characters, and that the pedophiles are almost entirely heterosexual.Make no mistake, this series is depressing. There is little satisfaction to be found in the end; except for the feeling that you have witnessed something honest and amazing. The series provides no answers to the problems it shows, they are too complex. But it does force you to think about them and make you care; and that is what great drama can do.