I initially wasn’t interested in Prime Suspect despite the the siren song of Helen Mirren because I classified it in the same vein as Hercule Poirot, Inspector Lewis, Miss Marple, and Agatha Christie. I decided to give it a chance after I saw the US’ version of Prime Suspect, which I loved. I have been a Maria Bello fan since ER, and whenever she isn’t cast as a prostitute, I am a happy camper. For me, NBC’s Prime Suspect was electrifying, especially when I paired it with Law & Order: SVU. This detective made Olivia Benson seem like a kindergarten teacher. It had a great ensemble cast, an authentic NYC vibe and Maria Bello’s central character was a unique, driven, passionate, confident, tough and flawed human being. I figured that if the American version was so wildly fantastic, then the Helen Mirren version would blow it out of the water. The original Prime Suspect is a bit dated, formulaic and civilized in comparison to the American version, but still enjoyable and was probably revolutionary at the time of airing. There were seven seasons, and each season mimicked the success of the first. Prime Suspect uses a characteristic of a detective, usually Jane but sometimes a colleague, which is seen as a negative by coworkers, as an asset in solving the crime. The first season uses gender. The second season uses race. The third season uses sexual orientation and reminded me of the Red Riding movie trilogy. I had to watch it a couple of times. The fourth season is the most American because each of the three episodes focuses on a separate crime. The first episode of the third season uses adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The second episode of the third season uses class. The third season basically rehashes the first. The fifth season uses crime in a detective’s family history, goes for a Whitey Bulger approach in dealing with urban crime and is a colorful attempt at The Wire. The sixth season deals with illegal immigration and war crimes. The seventh and final season deals with age. What is very unique about the original Prime Suspect: the graphic nature of postmortem exam, this Jane is sometimes her worst enemy and as the series progresses, her ambition can become an obstacle to solving the crime. Jane is first. Law and order is second. I’m still not a fan of the British mystery genre because there are too many names and references to remember as the story unfolds-oh, we met that character once, and that person is pivotal to everything. The number of renown actors to appear in Prime Suspect are legion: Ralph Fiennes, Mark Strong, Peter Capaldi, Tom Wilkinson, Colin Salmon, Ciaran Hinds, Liam Cunningham, and Gary Lewis. Helen Mirren is always magnificent. There were only two major flaws in the original Prime Suspect. First, Jane wouldn’t survive without her colleagues whether she is getting slapped by victims’ relatives or hunting for a suspect in an abandoned warehouse. Second, it is fascinating to see how crimes are solved across the pond, but after all the procedural detail illustrated in an episode, the criminal’s confession solves the crime. If you like this genre, the original Prime Suspect is a must see and a classic, but you may need subtitles because the accents and slang can be a bit indiscernible. Again, feel free to call me a philistine, but while I enjoyed the original, I preferred the American Prime Suspect. I recognize that without the original Prime Suspect, there would be no female lead detective on a tv show, but I still love a NYC hometown drama more.