Mirren returns to Prime Suspect

Mirren said female actors were often overlooked

Actress Helen Mirren has announced she is returning to Prime Suspect, the TV police drama that made her a household name.

Mirren will resume her role as Superintendent Jane Tennison after a six-year break from the ITV1 series.

She told reporters at the Cannes Film Festival: "I have been away from it for long enough and it is a great role and high quality."

Mirren is in Cannes promoting Calendar Girls in which she stars alongside Julie Walters in the story of a Yorkshire WI group who pose naked for charity.

Brilliant actresses don't get enough work and mediocre actors get more work than they should

Helen Mirren

She said she had taken a break from the series to avoid being too closely associated with the role of Supt Tennison.

"Why turn your back on it just because you've done it? So I thought I would have just one more go at it."

She feared she would not get parts like the one in Calendar Girls if she had been typecast in Prime Suspect.

"They'd say she is the one who plays the policeman and we don't want her as she can't be funny."

Mirren, who has twice won the best actress award at Cannes, says she feels strongly that women do not get a fair deal in the acting profession.

"Brilliant actresses don't get enough work and mediocre actors get more work than they should," she said.