Lynda La Plante: Prime Suspect, DCI Jane Tennison and the importance of true crime

Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

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Lynda La Plante: Prime Suspect, DCI Jane Tennison and the importance of true crime

Lynda La Plante dreamt up Prime Suspect in a flash of inspiration in a pitch meeting. Having blagged the gig, she then had to write the script. She changed forever the face of crime drama.

Robert Murphy

Jul 02, 2024

Transcript

It was the early 1990s and Lynda La Plante was desperate. She had a few TV drama successes under her belt, but everything she was pitching was greeted with a ‘no’ from commissioners.

Then, in a pitch meeting, she dreamt up Prime Suspect when the TV boss said she wanted a ‘cop show with a female detective and a murder.'

But to create Det Ch Insp Jane Tennison, Lynda needed to research true crime. Enter Met detective Jackie Malton - and months of research.

This interview coincides with the release of Lynda’s final Jane Tennison book, Whole Life Sentence which takes readers to the detective’s life before Prime Suspect.

In this episode, Lynda talks Tennison, Jackie Malton, the importance of grounding her fiction in fact and research.

Whole Life Sentence is released on July 4th 2024. You can grab a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Whole-Life-Sentence-pulse-pounding-Detective-ebook/dp/B0CSTSGNS8

To learn more about Lynda, click here:

https://lyndalaplante.com/

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Behind the Crimes with Robert Murphy

### WINNER 'Outstanding Indie Podcast at the True Crime Awards 2024. ###

What makes a criminal? What makes a truly great detective?

Award-winning TV crime correspondent Robert Murphy speaks with people involved with some of the most fascinating true crime cases of recent years: detectives, victims, experts and sometimes even the criminals themselves.

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This podcast and newsletter explores some of our biggest crime stories - and some of the lesser-known, compelling cases which deserve a better understanding.

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