Description
Deborah Jermyn's study examines exactly what made Prime Suspect so distinctive and controversial and the role it played in transforming the TV crime drama. Jermyn places the series in the context of earlier TV crime series, particularly those such as Juliet Bravo, The Gentle Touch and Cagney& Lacey that featured female detectives, and traces its influence on those such as Silent Witness and CSI that came after. Jermyn also relates the institutionalised sexism and misogyny that Tennison confronts to real-life discrimination and prejudice in British policing and its attitudes to women, whether as investigators or victims, in cases such as that of Assistant Chief Constable Alison Halford and the distinction made between prostitutes and the 'innocent' victims of the Yorkshire Ripper.
Through a close analysis of key scenes, Jermyn highlights the formal and aesthetic innovations of Prime Suspect, in its attention to the detail of forensic work; its unflinching portrayal of the bodies of murder victims and its cinematic shooting style. Recognising Prime Suspect as one of the most striking, acclaimed and influential texts in British television history, Jermyn acknowledges the key roles played by the original screenwriter La Plante and by Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison.
About the Author
DEBORAH JERMYN is Reader in Film and Television at Roehampton University. She is the author of Crime Watching: Investigating Real Crime TV (2006) and a study of Sex and the City in the TV Milestones series (2009) and the co-editor of Falling in Love Again: Romantic Comedy in Contemporary Cinema (2008).
Book Information
ISBN 9781844573059
Author Deborah Jermyn
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint BFI Publishing
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC