Lynda La Plante takes 'step back' from Prime Suspect prequel

Lynda La Plante is no longer involved in the Prime Suspect prequel being adapted by ITV.

An ITV statement said the writer had "decided to step back" from the drama series Prime Suspect 1973.

"We are grateful to Lynda for allowing us to adapt her brilliant book," it said, adding that ITV would "continue to produce and broadcast" the series.

No explanation has been given but there have been reports, external she was unhappy with how it was being adapted.

According to The Daily Telegraph, external a representative for La Plante said she was "very sad" about the decision.

The six-part series, based on La Plante's latest book Tennison, will be broadcast in 2017.

The book follows DC Jane Tennison, aged 22, as she starts her first police job in Hackney after police training and becomes involved in her first murder case.

Tennison was made famous by Dame Helen Mirren who played the police chief for seven series on ITV from 1991 to 2006.

When the book prequel was announced in 2014, La Plante said: "When you first meet her (Tennison) in the early 90s, she is a very complex character, but what made her so?

"Nobody knows what drove her to become a DCI or want to join the police force in the first place."

In July it was announced that Doctor Thorne actress Stefanie Martini had been cast as a young Tennison.

The cast also includes veteran actor Alun Armstrong, as the head of a crime family, and Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison as DC Tennison's sergeant.