Lynda LaPlante's classic TV crime show Prime Suspect to return with prequel

The crime writer has revealed that she is working on a prequel novel to Prime Suspect, which she hopes to adapt for television.

16:36 19 February 2014

Crime writer Lynda LaPlante has revealed that she is going to revive tough talking detective Jane Tennison in a prequel to Prime Suspect. The character helped to make Oscar winning actress Dame Helen Mirren famous in ITV series.

The novel new is set before the rest and will start when Tennison joined the police force in the last 1970s or early 1980s. A TV adaptation is expected to follow in 2016.

LaPlante said that Mirren is highly unlikely to take the role this time. She said: “I feel she has now carved such an impressive career that I really would doubt that she would want to go back.”

She admitted she had no one in mind for the role of the young Tennison but said: “It will be a great search because Helen Mirren’s is an iconic performance.

“The hunt for her will be very, very difficult.”

The writer hopes to give audience a glimpse of what made the character tough but troubled.

Elaborating on the character’s traumatic past, LaPlante continued: “It’s probably I would think a love affair with a high ranking officer who was murdered, because going back in time I also have the IRA explosions, so there’s a lot of material for me to sort through and pin point where I want the damage to come in.”