At the beginning of the 3rd episode, we catch a quick glimpse of Terrence (Aaron Pierre). It appears the man is involved in heavy drug dealing. Meanwhile, Renee Bentley (Ruth Sheen) prepares for the release of her husband. At the station, Len (Sam Reid) begins interrogating Julie’s father. At the same time, DS Spencer Gibbs (Blake Harrison) gives Kath Morgan (Jessica Gunning) permission to handle her mother’s interrogation. Julie’s father admits to meeting with Eddie. Len takes a break and orders his team to find Eddie as quickly as possible. Jane Tennison (Stefanie Martini) is ordered to get George’s bank statements. Next, David Bentley (Jay Taylor) gets caught trying to steal money from John’s (Lex Shrapnel) wallet. John stops his brother and threatens him, before Renee breaks it up.

After the argument ends, Jane returns to the station with the bank statements. She is given permission to watch the rest of the interrogation. George admits he tried to help Eddie and Julie pay off a substantial debt. He uses this as a way to excuse the large withdrawals on his statement. During the questioning, George refers to someone named Oz. The name catches Jane’s attention. Meanwhile, Paul Lawrence (Jordan Long) finds new evidence in the Collin’s home. Also, Len and Spencer learn that Eddie and Julie were beaten at different times. John picks up Clifford (Alun Armstrong) at the prison. They chat about the job during their drive. Back at the station, George is questioned about the bloody golf club. He quickly admits to bringing Julie home and locking her up, since she wanted to get clean.

He insists Mary (Nancy Carroll) was out of the house, when Julie attempted to escape. He admits to hitting his daughter a few times, but claims she disappeared after he turned his back. Clifford finally returns home. The neighbors give him dirty looks. A party is held to celebrate the occasion. David refuses to join in on the fun. Renee speaks with him outside. David insists Clifford and admits he doesn’t understand why Renee remained with him for so long. Next, Spencer and Len sit down with Mary. She is confronted with the evidence and told only her fingerprints were found on the golf club. Mary admits to the attack and claims she was trying to help her daughter. Len exclaims that Mary is helping the real killer by lying. Mary finally admits she has her daughter’s bag. She agrees to hand it over.

Eventually, the party ends and Clifford offers to take everyone out for dinner. He becomes concerned when it is revealed that David is missing. Also, Clifford tries to find the money in his secret hiding place only to find that it has gone missing. He quickly becomes enraged with Renee, but calms down moments later. Back at the station, Sergeant Harris (Andrew Brooke) signs out George and Mary. Then, the detectives turn their attention to Oz. Len and Spencer argue over the decision to let the Collins leave. During lunch, Kath finds Jane brushing up on her law statutes. Kath warns Jane that getting involved with Len could ruin her career very quickly. Julie’s bag arrives seconds later. Inside, the detective find a note with TOD and a phone number written on the back. Afterwards, Harris warns Len about the gossip being spread around the station.

Jane confronts Len outside seconds later. They speak about the gossip and agree to clean the slate as quickly as possible. After Jane heads home, Len tracks down Clifford. After a brief chat, Len threatens Clifford and promises to keep an eye on him. Clifford calls out the job, after David doesn’t show up. During this time, we see David enter a drug house. At the station, DC Ashton (Daniel Ezra) gives Spencer and Len evidence about the phone number. It happens to lead to a payphone. In the morning, Clifford confronts David in his bedroom. He tells him to get off of the dope. Kath and Jane speaks with the residents near the phone box. It happens to be the property that David visited the night before. At this point, Jane has an idea. She tells Len that TOD might be initials and not a name. This leads them to the hospital receptionist, Teresa O’Duncie (Franc Ashman).

At first, Teresa denies everyone. However, under a little pressure, she cracks. She admits Oz is her brother Terrence O’Duncie. The detectives return to the station and dig through Terrence’s history. Then, they prepare to raid his house. On the way there, Len tells Jane he doesn’t want her to leave. Clifford and John meet with Silas (Anthony Skordi). The man admits he wants to shut the café and visit his family in another country. Clifford convinces him otherwise, since it would attract too much attention. David heads to the lookout point. While Danny (Nick Nevern) breaks through the wall, the detectives storm Terrence’s drug house. Danny finds the alarm and cuts the wire. The alarm is successfully disabled. Meanwhile, Spencer gives Terrence a good beating. Jane witnesses the attack. She is told she didn’t see anything and ordered to return to the car.

 

Prime Suspect 1973 Review

The 3rd episode of Prime Suspect 1973 allowed us to examine the dynamics of the Collins family. The parents obviously wanted to help Julie more than she wanted to help herself and that lead to Mary taking drastic measures to keep Julie at home. Mary was forced to admit to her actions and this allowed the detectives to seize Julie’s bag. In return, Terrence was taken into custody, but only after Spencer gave him a brutal beating. As a witness to the attack, it is certain Jane’s job just got a whole lot harder.

In 1973, it is almost certain that police brutality was very common and often ignored. Will Jane turn a blind eye to the behavior? The episode was entertaining and full of interesting plot twists. A 7 out of 10 is awarded to episode 3. Catch up with previous recaps of Prime Suspect 1973 now!