Second series of the ITV series which very much repeats the formula of series one as Mars Bar-chomping detective Susie Rheinhaart, this time in tow with a young, black, cheeky, sharp-dressed sidekick chases through Manchester, Blackpool and The Lake District trying to locate a pregnant girl, kidnapped by an ex-con trying to collect a stash of money from a scam perpetrated before he went inside. To help him find the money he needs the help of his separately jailed sister and to spring her, they involve the unsuspecting father of said pregnant girl, a recently widowed workaday prison officer, with am-dram as a hobby, played by Robert Glenister. "Life On Mars" will note the coincidence in Glenister replacing John Simm as the patsy in this latest conspiracy.
Adopting very much the same format as its predecessor it starts at the moment of Glenister and his former inmate on the run after a desperate escape from the prison and then goes back to set the backdrop for the escape scene. Again, like before, there's a lot of running and a few more killings along the way with lots of moving camera shots, living up to the edgy, can't-stand-still nature of the show itself.
Detective Rheinhaart naturally has new-man trouble, with even more in store as she finds she's pregnant to her new boy-friend, who up to that point, wants to marry her. Don't be too surprised though at married-to-the-job Rheinhaart's final decision.
Fast paced, if thin on characterisation, it works as well as Series 1, with Glenister very good as the railroaded, honest father compelled to assist the runaway siblings. Linda Caravallo is good again too as the put-upon officer still determined to crack the case.
Exciting, if predictable in places, "Prey" worked reasonably well as prime-time TV entertainment.
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