Prime Suspect 3

DCI Jane Tennison having proved herself as a murder investigator (Prime Suspect and Prime Suspect 2), transfers to vice. A boy is murdered.

Runaways are being picked up at London stations, hired out for sex.

Kids living on the streets, sniffing glue. Scenes more akin to favelas in Rio than streets of London.

Abuse in children's homes. Boys who run away, complain to the police, are raped by senior detective, and sent back to the homes.

Peodohpile ring operating involving senior police officers, politicians.

Life imitating art. Art imitating life.

In the 1970s, children in homes in North Wales were abused, rented out, complaints to the police were ignored, An investigation was carried out. All those who had copies of the report, were asked to return them and then the reports were destroyed. An Inquiry was held, an Inquiry that was a cover-up.

One of the kids who was abused, who said he was leased out to be raped, made allegations on Newsnight a week ago. He said one of his abusers was a senior Tory from the Thatcher era. One week later, The Guardian named Lord McAlpine, saying it was a case of mistaken identity. A clever, but not very subtle way, of naming a name bandied about on the net. The accuser has since withdrawn his accusation, apologised, and said it was a mistake.

For several weeks, the gutter press has been running what is like a modern day Salem Witch Trial, whipping up mass hysteria against Jimmy Savile, unproven allegations untested in Court reported as fact.

Shoddy investigations by BBC on Newsnight and Panorama witnesses lacking credibility. These two BBC programmes are now lacking any credibility and should be scrapped, to be replaced by a programme with quality investigative reporting.

We now have witch hunt against the BBC being whipped up by the gutter press.

Child abuse victim did not name Lord McAlpine on Newsnight, why therefore has abuse victim and BBC apologised? What are they apologising for?

Allegedly, the police show child abuse victim a photo of what is claimed to be Lord McAlpine. Why? Did the police have their suspicions? Child abuse victim identifies person in picture as his abuser. Why no police investigation? An allegation has been made. Protestations of innocence is not enough. Has the claim been investigated and the person cleared?

We flip between extremes. On the one hand children who are abused are not believed, cover-ups take place. On the other hand witch hunts.

There is a need for one comprehensive Judicial Inquiry, evidence taken under oath, not a myriad of ad hoc overlapping inquiries, whipped up mass hysteria, allegation against people who are not in a position to answer back because they are dead.

Lynda La Plante had a senior Met officer acting as advisor. Was this a means of using fiction to tell what could not otherwise be told? An officer who in the 1980s exposed police corruption.

• Prime Suspect
• Prime Suspect 2
• ‘Mistaken identity’ led to top Tory abuse claim
• BBC apologises for Newsnight child abuse report
• Lord McAlpine victim of mistaken identity, abused man says
• Why did Newsnight spike a story on Jimmy Savile?

Prime Suspect 2

A body is found buried in a garden in an Afro-Caribean area of London.

Strong social commentary, but also a very powerful drama, which at times is upsetting to watch.

DCI Jane Tennison having proved herself, is now accepted by the team she leads, but not a black officer who is imposed as a token Black (though claimed to be a good detective), halfway through a murder investigation.

Nearly three hours long. No fast car chases. Long, slow, methodical, painstaking police work. In many ways continuing the tradition of Sherlock Holmes.

Lynda La Plante, who wrote the story line but not the screenplay, is highly critical of modern police dramas, too fast paced.

• Prime Suspect
• Prime Suspect 3

Prime Suspect

Somewhat dated, written by Lynda La Plante for Granada TV and starring Helen Mirren, first broadcast in 1991, Prime Suspect is an interesting social commentary of the time.

It was an accident it came to be written. Lynda La Plante was in conversation with Granada TV. We are looking for a police drama. Yes, working on one. We are looking for a police drama with a senior female detective. Just what I am working on.

On this basis, Lynda La Plante got the contract. The police drama she was working on was a fiction. There was no police drama.

She then contacted Scotland Yard, what senior female police officers could they offer her? She was hoping for a Detective Chief Inspector. She got a Detective Chief Inspector. They chatted on the phone. The Detective Chief Inspector offered to come over for a chat. To her surprise, the police officer who turned up was a biker clad in black leathers. It was she who filled her in on the culture at the Met, especially the attitude towards women.

The DCI who came to see Lynda La Plante in her biker’s leathers was Jackie Malton. She is now ex-Met, works as a script consultant, but also works with ex-armed robber Graham Godden with young offenders and children to stop them embarking on a career of crime.

• The cop and the robber – a unique friendship

Prime Suspect starts with what appears to be the brutal killing of a prostitute. 24 hours into the investigation, the detective leading the investigations dies of a heart attack. Into his shoes steps DCI Jane Tennison (played by Helen Mirren), a move that proves highly unpopular with his team.

Apart from being interesting social commentary, also an excellent drama, that at the end leaves one feeling chilled to the core.

Prime Suspect ran from 1991 to 2006.

Sherlock Holmes has influenced crime fiction up to the present day. In Scandinavia writers have been influenced by the Martin Beck series.

According to Ian Rankin, Prime Suspect has influenced all that has followed.

What is maybe even more surprising, Prime Suspect has been used by the Met for training.

Four years on from the first broadcast, the first female chief constable was appointed. There are over 50 police forces in England and Wales. In 2012 there were half a dozen women chief constables.

A decade on from the first broadcast of Prime Suspect, following the killing of Stephen Lawrence, the Met was accused of being Institutionally Racist.

The series explored racism (Prime Suspect 2), sex trade (Prime Suspect 3). By the end of the series, Jane Tennison, now promoted, was one of the lads, a burnt out cynical alcoholic.

Foreign Bodies, investigates European crime fiction, but BBC true to form, keeps this excellent series on-line for only 7 days.