'Prime Suspect,' 'Cracker' sign off

Why mourn two aging British cop shows?

In the case of "Prime Suspect," the episode "The Final Act" meant last call for Helen Mirren's greatest character, the police detective Jane Tennison. The series spread over 15 years, with 22 hours of superb TV assigned to seven telefilms.

"Prime Suspect" was arguably the toughest, most precise and best-acted cop series on any continent.

The telefilms were always specialty items in the States (airing on PBS' Mobil Masterpiece Theatre), so their availability on Region 1 DVDs is most welcome. HBO Home Video had rights previously, but Acorn Media has released "Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act." (Take this detour to the full DVD review.)

Unlike the slick but detailed police procedurals that rule the U.S. airwaves, "Prime Suspect" makes no overt concessions to show business -- or its audience. These stories are all rough rides, told with an aesthetic that feels more indie film than network TV.

"Final Act" tells of Tennison's pending retirement and raging alcoholism. Her final days on the force are filled with the case of a missing teen girl, presumed murdered. Across town, Tennison's father battles terminal cancer.

"Don't call me mum. I'm not the bloody queen," Mirren's Tennison says to a street cop, without apparent irony. The line is a touchstone of the series, but of course Mirren triumphed last awards season for her work as Elizabeth II in "The Queen."

"Prime Suspect's" track record of outstanding casting continues this time out with teenage Laura Greenwood (terrific as the dead girl's best friend) and Heshima Thompson (the prime suspect, a young ladies' man). Mirren herself signed off on casting and scripts.

The extent to which the series revolved around the actress is made clear in "Prime Suspect: Behind the Scenes," an robust ITV docu that served as plug for the current show and a epitaph for the series. It reunites many of the series' key contributors, including police detective and adviser Jackie Malton, whose real-world adventures parallel those of DLC Tennison.

"Cracker," another ITV telefilm series starring Robbie Coltrane, sees its bloated bleary-eyed hero return after seven years in Australia.

Wordsmith Jimmy McGovern, who did the first three telefilms returns for duty on "Cracker: A New Terror." The result is among the strongest of the "Cracker" narratives, even if its anti-Iraq war message feels heavy-handed.

The killer is known from the start -- a British street cop who served as a soldier in Northern Ireland. He takes to mudering visiting Americans in retaliation for their country's invasion of Iraq.

Fitz, distracted by his daughter's wedding and his usual temptations of booze, women and gambling, tries to keep his act (and marriage) together while burrowing into the murderer's brain.

Despite the "Final Episode" tag on the DVD, Coltrane does say in its "Behind the Scenes" featurette that he might be up for another ("if Jimmy's doing it").

"Prime Suspect" fans, alas, should entertain no such hopes.

Read this DVD blog's full review of "Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act" and "Cracker: A New Terror."

Comments

[Sanddancer]

I didn't enjoy the final Cracker so much as the earlier episodes. I thought it lacked the tension of the classic episodes such as the one with Robert Carlyle.

[Glenn Abel]

The episode with Robert Carlyle is "To Be a Somebody" (1994). He was last seen on these shores as the cowardly dad in "28 Weeks Later."

Thanks for the comment, Sanddancer