Blake Gets Serious

Blake Harrison on playing a tough 1970s detective and reinventing himself as a dramatic actor.

- Caren Clark

Detective Sergeant Spencer Gibbs has no time for niceties in ITV crime drama prequel Prime Suspect 1973, and this week, as he and his colleagues continue to investigate the murder of prostitute Julie Ann Collins, he’s on typically bullish form as he tries to learn more about her addict boyfriend, Eddie.

‘Gibbs has a very short fuse,’ says Blake Harrison, who plays the detective. ‘He is not corrupt – he is a smart guy and a good detective – but he’ll do what’s necessary to get his man and that’s where conflict crops up. He takes things too far at times and gets physical with the suspects.’

SIGN OF THE TIMES