Jane Tennison and the Feminist Police Procedural

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of Prime Suspect, a public television film about detective chief inspector Jane Tennison. The authors focus on the film's images of gender, work, and justice and reveal several progressive feminist tendencies. The film portrays the problems and achievements of a woman in a predominantly male field. The film conveys the obstacles described by scholars that confront policewomen. It provides a critical view of how men officers investigate crimes of violence against women. Even so, Prime Suspect presents several unresolved ambiguities about working women generally and about those who work in traditionally male occupations such as policing.