Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 22, 1995                   TAG: 9510200033
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: TOM SHALES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MIRREN'S TENNISON IS A GREAT PIECE OF WORK

Those who've never seen one of the ``Prime Suspect'' dramas imported from England for PBS, and have thus never met Inspector Tennison, will get yet another chance tonight when the latest ``Prime Suspect'' drama airs on ``Masterpiece Theater'' (WBRA, Channel 15). Previous ``Prime Suspects'' were shown as part of the Thursday night ``Mystery!'' series. Both showcases are funded by Mobil.

Although the previous ``Suspects'' were multipart serials, this year there'll be three separate, two-hour, self-contained dramas instead. The other two, subtitled ``Inner Circles'' and ``Scent of Darkness,'' will air on PBS in February and April of next year.

This fourth edition of the tales of Tennison is called ``The Lost Child,'' a title with a double meaning. At the end of the last one, Tennison, though single, was pregnant. At the beginning of this one, she elects to have an abortion. Since this is England and not America, she doesn't have to step over the prostrate bodies of hysterical protesters to get into the clinic. But she does experience grief and remorse over the decision she has made.

Meantime, there is another lost child, a 14-month-old girl named Vicki Warwick who has been abducted from her divorced mother's London flat. No ransom note is received and it is feared the abduction is the act of a child molester. The mother, found lying on the kitchen floor in a halo of blood, is unable to identify her attacker when she comes to.

Inspector Tennison has become Detective Superintendent Tennison, and she quickly takes charge of a task force to find the missing child and solve the crime. As Tennison, Mirren is resolute, steadfast, fair-minded, diligent - everything you'd want in a cop and nearly everything you'd want in a friend. When Mirren fixes her suspects, prime or otherwise, with that definitively steely gaze, it's almost like they're being zapped by Superman's X-ray eyes.

Or rather, Superwoman's. Or Superperson's. Super Somebody's, that's for sure.

The drama, written by Paul Billing and directed by John Madden (England's John Madden, not America's), touches on many troubling social issues that will seem mighty familiar to viewers in this country: pedophilia, child abuse, infidelity, police brutality. Unfortunately, Billing is not above using a cheap scapegoat or two: he makes the journalists and psychiatrists, two much-maligned professions, look especially sleazy.

But for the most part, the story unfolds with crisp intelligence and benefits from a cast of super British actors. These include Robert Glenister as Chris Hughes, the prime suspect because he's had a past of molesting children. And Beatie Edney, who has wrenching moments as the lost child's mother.

Lesley Sharp is very touching as Hughes' lady friend, and Jack Ellis delivers powerfully as a cop who is unable to suppress his outrage at what he thinks Hughes has done. The script includes a smattering of four-letter words, most of them variations on a common scatological term. There's more violence than usual in a Tennison tale, but it's never gratuitous.

The reason there are several tiny brief pauses in the drama is that ``Prime Suspect'' was shown in England on a commercial network, not the BBC; the spaces are where the commercials were. And what's considered good, thoughtful entertainment in England is considered a ``masterpiece'' here. Ah well.

Still, Tennison is Tennison on either side of the Atlantic, and quite a splendid piece of work, too. She is no saint, but she is immensely admirable, and not so strong that she cannot recognize, and sympathize with, weakness in others. She is a great, great character, and darn lucky to have a great, great actress playing her.