Prime Suspect 4: The Lost Child

After an appointment for an abortion, newly-promoted Superintendent Jane Tennison (Dame Helen Mirren) leads the investigation into the abduction of a 14-month-old baby girl, Vicky Warwick, from her crib. The child's mother, Susan Covington (Beatie Edney), was knocked unconscious, leaving a nasty gash on her forehead and causing memory loss. Her husband, John Warwick (Adrian Lukis), had left them less than a year ago, but appears to have an alibi. Susan had given her nanny, whom she shared with a co-worker, a cellphone, a camera, and illegal mace, leading Tennison to suspect that Susan was worried about something. She recalls someone she saw in the park, a man with two little girls. When the police learn that a convicted pedophile, Chris Hughes (Robert Glenister), lives with a woman and her two young daughters just a short distance from where the child was abducted, he becomes their prime suspect. They're convinced he's their man when Susan eventually picks him out of a line-up as the man she saw in the park. However, the man's counsellor, Dr. Patrick Schofield (Stuart Wilson), believes that he would not have committed the crime because of his preference in victims slightly older. The police hound and assault the man and, in desperation, he kidnaps his girlfriend to prove his innocence. Meanwhile, Tennison is promoted to Detective Superintendent. Only have they have it all wrong. They find the baby's body in a river and they have to release the murder suspect without more evidence. A rogue policeman, DI Tony Muddyman (Jack Ellis), shows an interview videotape of the suspect to his girlfriend, who was unaware of his abuse history. She then lies and withdraws the alibi she gave him, resulting in a very physical arrest by Muddyman. This results in his escape from the ambulance en route. Tennison realizes Muddyman had been abused as a child, which caused him to overreact in the case. Hughes then takes his girlfriend and her daughters hostage in her house. They set up snipers and a direct phone to police. Hughes then demands to speak only to Tennison. She promises to remove the snipers and get him a psychiatrist if he comes out with his hostages. But things go wrong as he walks out with them. Hughes panics and runs back in with the youngest child. Tennison is relieved of the crisis. She then speaks with the dead child's mother who confesses to her child's murder.