Painted Lady was a 1997 murder mystery mini series starring Helen Mirren, involving art theft. It costarred Franco Nero and Iain Glen, and was directed by Julian Jarrold. The role was created specifically for Mirren, as a means for her to try something a bit different from her Inspector Tennison character on the popular Prime Suspect series. The series was a collaborative effort of Granada Television and PBS . It was broadcast in the US PBS's Masterpiece Theatre in December 1997. Maggie Sheridan , a washed-up blues vocalist from the 1960s who had long since stopped performing, had settled... into a comfortable life on the Dublin estate of the father of her childhood friend, Sir Charles Stafford . When Sir Charles is murdered in what appears to be a bungled robbery , Maggie is drawn into the world of illegal art trade in an effort to solve the mystery and avenge her friend's murder, donning the persona of Polish Countess Magdelena Kreschinskaá.
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