‘Suspect’ Has Tough Act to Follow--Itself

What’s especially striking about the current issue of Vanity Fair is not how closely Ralph Fiennes resembles a demented, bare-chested, hair-teased Jesus on the cover. It’s the portfolio inside of his fellow “Theater Royals” from Britain.

At least a dozen have appeared on PBS in British dramas that, through the years, have comprised the class of television in the United States. They include Alec Guinness (“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”), Michael Gambon (“The Singing Detective”), Derek Jacobi (“I, Claudius”), Jeremy Irons (“Brideshead Revisited”), Diana Rigg (“The Avengers”) and Helen Mirren (“Prime Suspect”).

Some others, from Leo McKern (“Rumpole”) to Imogen Stubbs (“Anna Lee”), are familiar to U.S. audiences as title characters in likable British mystery series. Before earning an Academy Award nomination for “The Madness of King George,” moreover, Nigel Hawthorne was surely best-known here for his comedy role in the satirical “Yes, Minister.”

Well before winning Trekker icon status as Capt. Picard in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Patrick Stewart was a featured scoundrel in “I, Claudius,” as was another actor in the Vanity Fair piece, John Hurt. And students of early “Prime Suspect” will recall the presence of Fiennes, before he soared to the top of Hollywood’s A-list with his acclaimed work in “Schindler’s List” and “Quiz Show.”

With no movie industry of their own to speak of, the best of the stage-bred Brits have worked fairly regularly in their nation’s television, the best of such programming inevitably traveling across the Atlantic to “Masterpiece Theatre” and “Mystery!” on PBS and occasionally to cable’s A&E; network.

There is Los Angeles resident Mirren, for example: a former Oscar nominee herself for “The Madness of King George,” but also a veteran of 27 British TV roles.

It’s hard imagining her more subtly superb in any medium than as Jane Tennison, the ever-hungry, ever-intriguing, ever-sad London cop who in 1992 was introduced to U.S. viewers in the first of three “Prime Suspect” serials that aired on “Mystery!” From its writing to the nuanced acting of Mirren and supporting cast members, nothing on U.S. television was ever better.

Now comes the new, no-nonsense, shorter “Prime Suspect 4: Lost Child,” the first of three independent two-hour episodes (the latter two arriving in 1996) relocated to swanky “Masterpiece Theatre.” No more three-part sprawls for Tennison and the occasionally rebellious “lads” who serve under her. Now you get it all in an evening.

The biggest task facing Tennison is living up to her own high expectations while solving homicides under the critical scrutiny of her male bosses. The biggest task facing “Prime Suspect” is living up to “Prime Suspect.”

The bad news is that Jane 4 doesn’t equal 1, 2 or 3 when it comes to plot. The gifted Lynda La Plante created “Prime Suspect” for Granada Television and wrote two of its first three scripts. Paul Billing, the writer of Sunday’s installment, delivers more action, less introspection and swifter resolution.

Masterpiece, Shmasterpiece, the gap separating “Prime Suspect” and conventional crime drama narrows a bit Sunday. There’s even a revved-up motorcycle chase, replete with sirens and squealing tires.

The better news is that the gap still exists--that a lesser script doesn’t shrink performances, that Mirren is still commanding, that Tennison is still deliciously perplexing and that even a somewhat atrophied “Prime Suspect” has the brawn and magnetism to grip viewers for a couple of hours. All in all, still very nice stuff.

A single mother lies unconscious in a pool of blood, her 14-month-old daughter ominously missing from their flat. Leading the search for the absent child is the determined Tennison, now a detective superintendent, her investigation leading to a known pedophile and a botched arrest that triggers an extended hostage incident.

Although displaying admirable traits, Tennison is too human to be an unqualified heroine. In fact, her case-driven myopia and outward coldness--qualities one might expect in someone desensitized by brutal crimes--have always been her most endearing flaws, imperfections that give her authenticity.

That ends in “Prime Suspect 4,” as Tennison’s feelings gush to the surface when she learns of the missing child just after getting an abortion. Happily, director John Madden connects these seminal events without going for schmaltz or false intensity, reserving his greatest passion for an electrifying scene in which one of Tennison’s stressed colleagues (Jack Ellis) snaps and goes berserk.

What she swiftly infers from this comes across as a little too pat, a little too convenient. Yet, as always, “Prime Suspect” is a ward for the mentally gnarled and wounded. As always, it withholds little secrets and a concluding twist. And, as always, it ends somberly, sending you off to slash your wrists while contemplating, more than ever, the empty life of its obsessed protagonist.

Not great “Prime Suspect,” but good enough.

* “Prime Suspect 4: Lost Child” airs on “Masterpiece Theatre” at 9 p.m. Sunday on KCET-TV Channel 28. It will be followed at 11 p.m. by “Lynda La Plante,” an hourlong profile of the series creator.