arsenal-aaron As good a show these days as it was back in 1996.Always interesting to see what the actors are doing these days.Not just the main cast but the minor players as well.All cast are on top form with stand out performances from Steve Macintosh ,David O Hara, Julia Lane and the ever dependable Helen Mirren .A great script but with a grubby feel of city life with a realistic look at the drug scene. Really enjoyed it again even after eighteen years as it has dated very little.I bought the box set from Amazon and this is by far the best story line from the entire set. 8/10

paudie Prime Suspect 4 was a bit of a mixed bag so it is great to report that PS5 is of a very high standard.Having blotted her copybook with the top brass in the Metropolitan Police force DCI Tennison finds herself in Manchester and before long is trying to solve a gangland murder in a flat complex. Suspects are hard to come by but she is convinced a local drug baron is involved somehow.I prefer the longer format as it allows some lengthy scenes where Tennison and her team of detectives try to get information from a suspect or a witness. Tennison is well able to play good cop and bad cop, sometimes in the same interview! She is also not afraid to show her sympathy for innocent victims and their families and her contempt for the criminal and the corrupt. She also has to deal with the varied personalities of her new team of detectives.Top quality criminal drama yet again from the Prime Suspect series.

Rick Blaine It just gets better. What's to fault in this one? Is there anything? No. Curious how they interweave string quartet music through it - that's a new one. And it's stark - it brings a quality of immediacy and tragedy to it.Like all in this series, this has a long running time. Like everything in this series, nothing is set in stone. This is longer than many of the others. It's timed at 200 minutes which means a long time in front of the screen.But it's worth it. This is a strong drama like all of them, and not in the least because of Steven Mackintosh who plays one of the all-time creeps of silver screen or television.I checked his filmography and saw he's done quite a lot of work and I was surprised because I don't remember ever seeing him before. He really takes out the stops on this one.As always the story is well written and deftly directed. It's another masterpiece - and it's for television which is the surprise.And as always, you have to reckon Taylor Hackford's a lucky man.

mike dewey This review is probably as much a testimonial to British film-making in general as it is to this episode in particular. Note the superb execution of the dialog by almost all the actors, utilizing the English language in a most articulatory and fluid manner (and this is supposedly mere police drama)! Jane Tennison's character, in particular, employs skillful use of the expansive and colorful vocabulary of her native tongue, without being pedantic. Note how she chooses the word "metamorphosed" when describing "The Street's" evolution from a juvenile delinquent to a hard core criminal. As an American citizen, I unfortunately find, in most cases, our typical cinematic fare to rate far below the British Isles when it pertains to the articulation and execution of the English language.That said, this episode in particular is one of the most realistic and hard-hitting crime dramas ever filmed. Note how often you actually see anyone smiling or laughing, except for some doses of dark humor. Helen Mirren shows her finely tuned artistic mettle here as she has to undergo the humiliating transfer to the "northern country", an area totally new to her. Her subordinates are already skeptical of her which makes her segue to her new post even more difficult. She knows this but it doesn't stop her from proceeding along in her indomitable "take-charge" fashion. But it's a few of the little things that separate this dramatic fare from others: note the episode in her apartment in the early morning when she is in a hurry to get going, with one shoe on and desperately looking for the other! A small matter, yet we see in Jane, the super-cop, a subtle vulnerability that is usually absent in similar characterizations. This is downright good writing, directing and acting.The rest of the principals deserve kudos for their work, especially Julia Lane as DI Devanney, David O'Hara as DS Rankine and a stunning, chilling performance by Steven MacKintosh as "The Street". No disrespect intended for the rest of the cast, each of whom carries out the demands of his role to the fullest. It's as if the entire cast is comprised of people already thrust into the social climate depicted in this drama, that they all have lived and seen first hand the shambles of the drug and violence infested inner city.But the gritty reminder that the world is far from being fair smacks us in the proverbial chops as the episode is concluded and some people "just don't get caught"!