Mind Games

Lynda La Plante's credentials in crime stories featuring strong female characters would be hard to improve on. Following her seminal "Prime Suspect", "Mind Games" is an intelligent and multi-faceted perspective on the role of the mind and the brain in investigation and in life. The central character (played by Fiona Shaw, without question one of the greatest actresses in the world) uses not just her professional psychological profiling qualifications to inform her work, but also draws on her own faith (the character was previously a Roman Catholic nun) to help her in understanding what the mind can do and what it cannot overcome. It is a magnificent film: exciting, original and quiet, with a uniformly excellent cast who bring a real freshness to the genre.

The Police bring in a criminal profiler, to help unravel a series of ritualistic murders, none of which seem to be connected.

I'm watching this for the first time twenty years after it was first transmitted, in my opinion it holds up really well. The scenario is a good one, it's very easy to spot that it's from the pen of Lynda la Plante, it has the five of Prime Suspect and Trial and Retribution.

Fiona Shaw, in my humble opinion, she's one of the best, outrageously talented, and of course she doesn't disappoint, even if the basic premise of the character ia a wee bit of a stretch, perhaps.

You can argue it looks a little dated, and perhaps some of the filming is a little clunky, but it's well paced, they present a gritty mystery, and they offer a very exciting ending.

What a shame they didn't develop the character any further.

Well worth watching, 9/10.

It's a good idea but let down by the stilted dialogue. Couldn't bear more than 20 minutes of it.

Overacted and filled with plot holes including one MAJOR one that's never addressed.

Just finished watching this made for television film.

What a wonderfully put together contribution to the English crime / detective television genre. Fiona Shaw's ex - nun profiler is so refreshingly different and beautifully realised I am disappointed that there does not appear to be any more films utilising the same character.

If you 'enjoy' (inverted commas because still not convinced that this is the correct word to describe precisely why quite a few of us out there watch these programmes - Grimms Fairy Tales for Adults maybe??) the English style of Police Investigation programme, along the same lines as 'Prime Suspect' then do give this a go because you won't be disappointed.

Also, how brilliant to watch a main character (Fiona Shaw's Frances O'Neil), a published profiler, carry out her investigations with such quiet humility. Makes a change from the ranting, 'I know I'm right!' egotism and unchecked police brutality of Boyd from 'Waking the Dead' and the UK's version of 'Touching Evil' where Robson Green's lead character exerts similar ego and scene stealing antics. Not an insult to these two programmes, just useful examples.

The 8/10 is within the context of the post Prime Suspect English police drama - high praise indeed!