Mariska Hargitay as Capt. Olivia Benson in LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT Season 27, Episode 1 -- "In The Wind"Image via NBC
By
Jen Vestuto
Published 25 minutes ago
Jen Vestuto is a TV Features Writer for Collider. A born and raised New Yorker, she started her career on set as a production assistant for shows like Law & Order: SVU and Person of Interest. In LA, she worked in the writers' rooms for The Vampire Diaries and Nancy Drew. Along with her writing partner, she joined the writing staff of Nancy Drew in Season 2 and stayed on the run of the show, which ended in 2022 with Season 4.
Jen grew up on Long Island in a loud Italian family. She's been writing creatively since she was in elementary school and would often make her younger sister act out scenes from her favorite movies with her. Jen is also a massive sports fan and was an athlete herself growing up.
Writing features for Collider gives her the opportunity to share her passion for great storytelling and compelling characters.
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When it comes to iconic TV detectives, Law & Order: SVU’s Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) immediately comes to mind. Her sharp instincts, tenacity, and compassion have made her a television legend. But nearly a decade before she ever appeared on screen, a British detective series was already rewriting the rules of the genre.
In 1991, ITV’s Prime Suspect introduced audiences to DCI Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren), a brilliant, uncompromising detective fighting not only criminals but also the deep-rooted misogyny of her own police department. Now streaming on Tubi and scoring a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, Prime Suspect showcased a character unlike any TV detective who came before her. A total badass who smoked cigarettes, cracked cases, and refused to back down. At a time when nearly every on-screen detective was a man, Tennison broke the mold and set the stage for future icons like Olivia Benson.
What is 'Prime Suspect' About?
DCI Jane Tennison (Helen Mirren) holds a tape recorder in the crime show Prime Suspect.Image via ITV
Prime Suspect follows Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison, the first woman to lead a major murder investigation within the Metropolitan Police. When the series begins, she’s repeatedly passed over for promotions, but after the sudden death of a senior officer, Tennison finally gets her chance and immediately faces resistance. From her first moment on screen, it’s clear she isn’t wanted. Her male colleagues dismiss her competence and undermine her authority, but through sheer determination, Tennison forces her way into the case, quickly proving that she’s not only qualified but exceptional.
The series ran for seven seasons, though following the British model, each consisted of just two or three feature-length episodes. Every installment functions like its own limited series, delving into a single investigation while exposing layers of corruption, racism, and sexism within British society. What made Prime Suspect groundbreaking was its honesty about the toll police work takes, especially on Tennison. Her victories rarely felt triumphant as the job consumed her life and relationships.
Helen Mirren’s performance is the soul of Prime Suspect. Unlike SVU’s Olivia Benson, Tennison wasn’t designed to be instantly likable and was often messy and self-destructive. Mirren plays her with fearless authenticity, capturing both the authority and exhaustion of a woman navigating power decades before television embraced that archetype. Her work earned her three consecutive BAFTA TV Awards and two Primetime Emmys, cementing her as one of the greatest actors of her generation.
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Posts 3 By Chris Sasaguay Feb 9, 2025Helen Mirren's Jane Tennison Set the Stage for Iconic Female Detectives
Over the years since Prime Suspect first aired, its impact has been felt across nearly every modern crime drama. Its commitment to realism, emotional depth, and social critique became the blueprint for shows like Broadchurch, Happy Valley, and, of course, Law & Order: SVU. These series borrowed Tennison’s moral ambiguity and focus on systemic failure, proving that audiences were ready for detective stories that were about more than catching killers and delved deeper into the human elements and how hard it is to be a woman working in a male-dominated field.
Eight years later, when Dick Wolf launched Law & Order: SVU, Olivia Benson wasn’t fighting quite the same uphill battles as Tennison. Working alongside her partner, Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni), Benson was treated as an equal, but she still shared Tennison’s resilience and moral conviction. Her signature strength feels like an evolution of Tennison’s, perhaps less volatile at times, but born of the same fight. SVU, like many of the series that followed, carried Prime Suspect’s grit and emotional honesty, proving that a complex female detective is someone audiences will always root for.
More than three decades later, Prime Suspect remains essential viewing and is a series whose themes still resonate and feel strikingly ahead of their time. Modern audiences are drawn to crime dramas that don’t glamorize law enforcement but reveal its complexities, contradictions, and moral gray areas. Helen Mirren’s fierce yet vulnerable performance paved the way for generations of nuanced female leads and made Prime Suspect truly unforgettable.
Prime Suspect
Like Follow Followed TV-14 Crime Drama Mystery Release Date 1991 - 1991-00-00Cast
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