Mirren is terrific in the lead. The 3½ hours rarely drag and they are surely worth spending. It's often as gripping as the best big screen thrillers. Grisly serial murders, suspect interrogations, a persuit, police corruption... all these genre elements are grounded in reality, and we get just about the right amount of police station intrigue and scenes with Tennison and her husband (Wilkinson) inbetween.