WRITER Lynda La Plante is writing a prequel to her hit TV series Prime Suspect.

Jane Tennison, made famous by Dame Helen Mirren, will feature in the new novel and La Plante said she also planned to adapt the book, Tennison, for TV.

She said: "I am extremely excited to have begun work on the Tennison project. Jane Tennison is a character who millions of people know and admire from Prime Suspect.

But nobody knows what drove her to become a DCI or want to join the police force in the first place. When you meet her in the early 90s, she is a complex character, but what made her so?

"I can't say too much now, but readers will find out when the book is published; or in 2016 when they watch Tennison the series."