++ IN PRINT :: INTERVIEWS ++

 

:: PRIME SUSPECT::

 

On the Masterpiece theatre Prime Suspect website, there is information aplenty about this drama - cast credits, excellent episode summaries and the following interview with Ben.

 

In addition to the stellar Helen Mirren, Prime Suspect 6: The Last Witness features a select group of British talent, among them Ben Miles who plays Detective Chief Inspector Simon Finch:

 

The character is known as a 'tick in the box.' It's an expression that comes from the way you go up the ranks in the police force. I'm one of the new breed, a graduate who goes up the ranks quite fast through all the various areas in the force. Each time I do my time in a different department, a little box gets ticked on my CV...

 

I'm seen by some members of the squad who have been there a long time as less committed to the job. But that's not necessarily true in reality, as I found out doing research. One of the officers I spoke to was a Detective Chief Inspector and he knows these characters very well... He said that they are not less able to do their job, but just that their level of commitment to their team is slightly less. But they are still very confident officers. So I'm just a youngster really for the type of job I do.

 

Tennison was instrumentally in charge of Finch's promotion; she actually got him the job as DCI. (This was Tennison's position in the last series of Prime Suspect.) Initially she's had a good relationship with him, but when she starts taking over the case and starts to elbow her way in, my nose is put out of joint. So this is a new occurrence for Finch and something that he doesn't like. Their relationship is partly about pride and personality clashes, and when they have to put those things aside in order to get on with the cases, it makes it very interesting.

 

Working with Helen Mirren is like playing tennis with a great tennis player or playing the trumpet with Miles Davis -- although she looks nothing like Miles Davis! It's been a learning experience, and great fun, fantastic! Helen's such a great actress; she helps you out all the time. I learned a hell of a lot by just watching her on set, how she approaches different scenes, her ideas, close ups, wide shots, her suggestions, her attention to detail...

 

We had an agency that arranges non-speaking TV extras, who are all ex-members of the police force, so Helen spoke to them about what they would do in similar situations. She cares very much about the detail.

 

We were all sent down to a station in Barnes and they gave us much advice and told us what they do on a day-to-day basis. It was fascinating... I mean, you get this image of what a police station looks like, and this one was just an ordinary, tatty office, and really quiet too. Yet some of them are dealing with the most tragic events.

 

The guy that was the same rank as my character showed me this chart in the incident room -- there were nine murders that they were dealing with at the same time. This was one of the things I didn't realize... and of course you don't see that in police dramas because they usually just involve one incident. He took me through each one; it hit me that this is for real. These guys are dealing with the deaths of so many peoples' daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, all their working lives... I came out of that station with so much admiration for the police.

 

There are a few reasons why I was excited about this part. A, because it's Prime Suspect and it's got a reputation for quality; B, it's a great script; and C, there's the backdrop of the whole thing: the Balkan conflict of the '90s and how it influenced life here. I spoke to people who were there in Yugoslavia in the early '90s. Regardless of whether you actually use it in the show, the knowledge that you get influences the scenes.

 

 

 

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