Prime Suspect 1

After her colleague Detective Chief Inspector John Shefford (John Forgeham) has a heart attack, Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison (Dame Helen Mirren) is given the opportunity to do what few women have done with the Metropolitan Police: lead a major murder investigation. Her superiors aren't too keen to appoint her and the welcome she gets from the murder squad is chilly to say the least. Her main nemesis is Detective Sergeant Bill Otley (Tom Bell), an old-timer who was close to Shefford and doesn't think a woman should heading a murder investigation. The prime suspect in the case is George Marlow (John Bowe), who admits to having slept with the victim, Karen Howard (Julie Sumnall), on the day she died. He's known as something of a ladies man and and a travelling salesman who regularly frequented prostitutes. As Tennison delves deeper into the case, she finds several unsolved cases that match not only Marlow's sales route, but coincide with his business trips to the areas in question. With the growing support of her team, she works herself into exhaustion, affecting her personal relationships with her live-in companion, Peter Rawlins (Tom Wilkinson), as well as her extended family.