Like a distant cousin of Le Petit Lieutenant’s Nathalie Baye, Helen Mirren plays a determined female detective in this BBC cop show. The series starts in 1991 when DCI Jane Tennison gets her first murder case; there are six more installments before the 2006 “Final Act.” The murders are grisly, London’s wet and gray, and her all-male colleagues won’t respect her, but Helen Mirren lights up the drab interiors with acting every bit as accomplished as the role she just got an Oscar nomination for. I’m no expert on police procedurals–I’ve never seen a single episode of CSI: Anywhere–but the intricate and reversal-rich plotting of this first four-hour part is full of surprises. I particularly liked the extended focus on the suspect and his family, which creates something akin to what Karen Moncrieff, talking about The Dead Girl, called “the community of murder”–people brought together by crime. It’s also fun to spot future giants of English acting in minor roles. Ralph Fiennes, decked out in leather duds, is interrogated about a murdered prostitute, and Tom Wilkinson plays Mirren’s boyfriend, who expects her to solve the case and have the avocado dip ready for the dinner party, too. ****
[tags]helen mirren, ralph fiennes, tom wilkinson, crime, cops, murder, 4 stars, tv, london, nathalie baye, karen moncrieff[/tags]
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