Throughout the seven seasons of Prime Suspect, Helen Mirren is surrounded by generations of Britain’s finest actors. Some of the finest performances are by the actors least known to the American audience.
Jane Tennison is always beset by the sexism of other police officers. In the first four seasons, John Benfield plays her boss, Mike Kernan, who is out to get her at first. Kernan cautiously warms to Jane, but never reliably has her back.
If Mike Kernan is Old School, then Tom Bell‘s Detective Sergeant Bill Otley is Neanderthal. Openly hostile and insubordinate to Jane from the outset, Bell’s Otley evolves over seasons 1, 3 and 7.
In season 1, the prime suspect’s partner is played by Zoe Wanamaker in a searing performance. Full of piss and vinegar, her character sloshes buckets of defiance on the police. Wanamaker is unforgettable when her character gets a revelation about her own unknown tie to the murders from Jane.
Here are more of the very best supporting performances in Prime Suspect:
- John Bowe as the narcissistic sociopath of a serial killer in season 1.
- Colin Salmon as the charismatic but troubled Black cop Bob Oswalde in season 2.
- Jenny Jules as Sara, the sister of a teen who may be a victim or a perpetrator in season 2.
- Struan Rodger as Jane’s commander in season 3, who silently appreciates Jane’s moxie when she turns the table on their boss.
- David O’Hara as the terse and unsmiling Manchester street detective in season 5.
Other notable actors in Prime Suspect:
- Tom Wilkinson, before The Full Monty and his two Oscar nominations for In the Bedroom and Michael Clayton.
- David Thewlis, the same year as his acclaimed performance in Naked.
- Ralph Fiennes gets his very first screen credit, before Schindler’s List and The English Patient.
- Ciarán Hinds, one of my favorite character actors (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Rome, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows).
- Peter Capaldi, playing a drag queen before his Doctor Who.
- Mark Strong, before his string of popular action pictures.
