Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness

DVD Rating: **1/2

Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray

Read Angus Wolfe Murray's film review of Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness

The transfer is exceptionally good and, as you would expect, the quality of sound is clean and clear.

The documentary featurette suffers from an imagination defect. It is slick, without being memorable. Almost all those involved in the filming, from Andy Harries, executive producer, to Robert Pugh (Detective Sergeant Simms), puts in their pennyworth. Everyone wants to talk about Helen Mirren, except Helen Mirren, who doesn't want to talk about Jane Tennyson ("I've just allowed her to be").

The producer Peter Boulter and director Tom Hooper look rediculously young and have a natural ease in front of the microphone. Intelligence is something that shines out of this movie and when these people talk, you understand why. The interviews are hardly that, more like remarks in passing , between film clips and Behind The Scenes snippets.

Words such as "substantial," "relevant" and "exciting" are used about Mirren, as well as "vunerable" and "courageous." Hooper says she has her own naffometer, which comes in useful at times. She says what she enjoys most about doing the Suspects is that feeling of being part of a team. She calls it "fun."

The producers make a point of identifying the location, when before is it had always been vague. "We tried to make London a character," Boulter says. Also, they decided, after much deliberation and not a few auditions, to use Russian actors for the Bosnian leads, which in the case of Oleg Menshikov, who plays the prime suspect, was a stroke of genius.

You may not come away from this solitary Extra with a belief that you have learnt a whole lot more about what it is that makes this series so special, but the experience of being in the company of higly articulate, interesting people has been nothing but a delight and - dare I say it? - a privilege.

Reviewed on: 15 Mar 2004
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Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness packshot
Helen Mirren returns as tough cop Jane Tennyson in a Bosnian murder mystery in London.
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Product Code: GVD096

Region: 2

Ratio: 16:9 Anamorphic Wide

Sound: Dolby Digital stereo

Extras: Behind The Scenes featurette.


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