fbpx
Wikipedia

Cracker (British TV series)

January 11, 2023

Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV, created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. Set in Manchester, the series follows a criminal psychologist (or "cracker"), Dr Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane, who works with the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to help them solve crimes.

Cracker
Created byJimmy McGovern
StarringRobbie Coltrane
Geraldine Somerville
Christopher Eccleston
Ricky Tomlinson
Lorcan Cranitch
Barbara Flynn
Kieran O'Brien
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series3 (+ 2 specials)
No. of episodes25 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producerSally Head
ProducersGub Neal
Paul Abbott
Hilary Bevan Jones
John Chapman
Production locationsManchester, England
Running time50 mins. (Series 1–3)
120 mins. (Specials)
Production companyGranada Television
Release
Original networkITV
Original release27 September 1993 (1993-09-27) –
1 October 2006 (2006-10-01)

The show consists of three series, originally broadcast from 1993 to 1995. A 100-minute special set in Hong Kong followed in 1996 and another two-hour story in 2006. The show won the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series in 1995 and 1996, and Coltrane received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in three consecutive years (1994 to 1996).

Overview

Fitz is Scottish of Irish origin, alcoholic, a chain smoker, obese, sedentary, addicted to gambling, manic, foul-mouthed and sarcastic, yet cerebral and brilliant. He is a genius in his speciality: criminal psychology. As Fitz confesses in "Brotherly Love": "I drink too much, I smoke too much, I gamble too much. I am too much."

Each case spanned several episodes and cliffhangers were quite often used, but it was not until the end of the second series that a cliffhanger was employed to tie off the series. Some of the plotlines in the cases took as their starting point real events such as the Hillsborough disaster, whilst others were purely fictional with only tangential ties to actual events.

Several different psychotic types were explored during the run of the show with increasingly complex psychological motivations that, as the series entered the middle of the second series, began to expand beyond the criminals being investigated to the regular cast members. As the series moved forward, the storylines became as much about the interactions of the regulars as they were about the crimes. In many later episodes, in fact, the crimes often became background to intense, provocative explorations of the police officers' reactions to the crimes they investigated.

To emphasise how fine a line the police (and Fitz) walk in their close association with criminals, all three series featured several stories in which the police become victims of crime or themselves commit criminal acts such as rape, obstruction of justice and assault and battery.

Characters

Main cast

Notable guest stars

Episodes

Main article: List of Cracker episodes

Production

The first two series were written by Jimmy McGovern, excepting the fifth serial, "The Big Crunch", which was contributed by Ted Whitehead. Claiming that he had "nothing more to write about”,[1] McGovern originally planned to leave after the second series but was allowed to write the controversial rape storyline, "Men Should Weep", when he agreed to contribute a three-part story to the third series. Two of McGovern's stories, "To Say I Love You" and "Brotherly Love" (from the first and third series respectively), received Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. Each serial had a different director, with the exceptions of "To Be a Somebody" and "True Romance", both directed by Tim Fywell.

Paul Abbott, who had produced the second series, wrote the remainder of the episodes (including the feature-length special "White Ghost"). Abbott later went on to create several high-profile dramas, including Touching Evil (1997), State of Play (2003) and Shameless (2004). Another crew member, Nicola Shindler, who worked as script editor on the programme, later went on to found Red Production Company.

Of the regular cast, only Coltrane and Tomlinson featured in "White Ghost" (retitled "Lucky White Ghost" for some overseas markets), which was set in Hong Kong. Although the series was still drawing large audiences after White Ghost, Coltrane declined to return as Fitz unless McGovern returned to write the series.

Cracker returned a decade after "White Ghost" in the 2006 special episode, "Nine Eleven", written by McGovern and directed by Antonia Bird. Coltrane, Flynn and O'Brien were the only actors to return in their previous roles. The new roles of DCI Walters, DS Saleh and DS McAllister were played by Richard Coyle, Nisha Nayar and Rafe Spall respectively. The story involved Fitz returning to Manchester after several years of living in Australia with Judith and his son James (who had been born during the third series) to attend his daughter Katy's wedding. The murder of an American nightclub comedian sends the police to ask Fitz for his help.

Influences

Cracker storylines often begin by showing the crime being committed, a format popularised by Columbo.[2] Both series feature a lead character who solves crimes while masking an intelligent, perceptive nature behind a slobbish exterior, a debt acknowledged by Cracker creator Jimmy McGovern;[3] Fitz delivers his summing-up in "To Say I Love You" while doing a Peter Falk impression.[4]

Cracker's conception was also partly a reaction against the police procedural approach of fellow Granada crime serial Prime Suspect, placing more emphasis on emotional and psychological truth than on correct police procedure. In an interview with the NME, McGovern dismissed Prime Suspect, noting that "Good TV writing has narrative simplicity and emotional complexity," and characterising the series as "A narratively complex story going up its own arse."[5] Gub Neal, who produced the first series of Cracker, is quoted as saying, "That we had adopted the right approach was confirmed for me when Jacky Malton, the senior woman police officer who advised on Prime Suspect, said that although the way things happened in Cracker was sometimes highly improbable, the relationships between the police were in many ways much more credible than they had been in Prime Suspect."[6]

Locations

The series was principally filmed in south Manchester, at locations including Didsbury (where Fitz lived at the fictitious address of "15 Charlotte Road"[7]) and the police station at Longsight. The internals for the police station were filmed in the old Daily Mirror offices in central Manchester, now The Printworks retail complex. Other Manchester locations included Victoria Railway Station, St Peter's Square, Old Trafford, the Arndale Centre, UMIST, University of Salford, the Ramada Hotel, The Star and Garter (interior and exterior for the "Best Boys" episode) and the Safeway supermarket (now Morrisons) in Chorlton-cum-Hardy. The Hulme Crescents were also used for filming in the first two episodes of series one and the first episode of series two; during which time they were being demolished. The first episode involved several railway scenes which were filmed on the East Lancashire Railway in Bury (north Manchester) both on the trackside and inside the Carriage & Wagon Works, where working volunteers from the railway used crowbars to push the carriage springs up and down to suggest a moving train, while water was poured on the windows to suggest rain between black polythene sheets and the window to indicate darkness.

Other versions

In 1997, a short spoof episode, Prime Cracker, was produced for the BBC's biennial Red Nose Day charity telethon in aid of Comic Relief. A crossover with ITV stablemate crime drama Prime Suspect, the spoof starred Coltrane and Prime Suspect lead Helen Mirren as their characters from the respective series, sending up both shows.

In 1997, a 16-part US version of Cracker — directed by Stephen Cragg and Michael Fields — was made, starring Robert Pastorelli in Coltrane's role. The original UK story lines were transferred to Los Angeles. The series finished after the first season. It was broadcast in the UK, retitled Fitz.

Home media

Series Title Region 1 Region 2
1 The Mad Woman in the Attic 14 October 2003[8] 12 May 2003[9]
To Say I Love You 12 May 2003[4]
One Day A Lemming Will Fly 12 May 2003[10]
2 To Be a Somebody 24 February 2004[11] 12 May 2003[12]
The Big Crunch 12 May 2003[13]
Men Should Weep 12 May 2003[14]
3 Brotherly Love 20 April 2004[15] 12 May 2003[16]
Best Boys 12 May 2003[17]
True Romance 12 May 2003[18]
Special
 White Ghost
TBA
 12 May 2003[19]
Special
 Nine Eleven aka A New Terror 28 August 2007[20]
TBA
1–3
 The Complete Collection 10 March 2009[21] 16 October 2006[22]

References

  1. ^ 'Head case' SMH.com.au; 30 September 2004
  2. ^ "'Cracker' comes off as a little stale". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  3. ^ Billingham, Mark (10 September 2007). "I'm Just Another Cop. My Name Is Columbo". The Rap Sheet. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  4. ^ a b "Cracker: To Say I Love You [DVD] [1993]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  5. ^ Wells, Steven (28 October 1995). "Ratings-guzzling uber-TV show Cracker is back to peel away the scabs of post Hillsborough Britain". NME. IPC Media.
  6. ^ Crace 1994, pp. 22–24
  7. ^ From the business card that Fitz presents to his stalker in the episode "True Romance".
  8. ^ "Cracker: Series 1 DVD". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  9. ^ "Cracker: The Mad Woman In The Attic [DVD] [1993]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Cracker: One Day a Lemming Will Fly [DVD] [1993]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  11. ^ "Cracker: Series 2 DVD". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  12. ^ "Cracker: To Be a Somebody [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Cracker: The Big Crunch [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  14. ^ "Cracker: Men Should Weep [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  15. ^ "Cracker: Series 3 DVD". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  16. ^ "Cracker: Brotherly Love [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  17. ^ "Cracker: Best Boys [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Cracker: True Romance [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  19. ^ "Cracker: White Ghost [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  20. ^ "Cracker: A New Terror DVD". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  21. ^ "Cracker: The Complete Collection DVD". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  22. ^ "Cracker Complete Collection Box Set [DVD]". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  • Crace, John (1994). Cracker: The Truth Behind The Fiction. Granada/Boxtree. ISBN 0-7522-0974-4.
  • Duguid, Mark (2009). Cracker. BFI TV Classics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan/BFI Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84457-263-2.

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Cracker.

January 11, 2023
cracker, british, series, cracker, british, crime, drama, series, produced, granada, television, created, principally, written, jimmy, mcgovern, manchester, series, follows, criminal, psychologist, cracker, edward, fitz, fitzgerald, played, robbie, coltrane, w. Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern Set in Manchester the series follows a criminal psychologist or cracker Dr Edward Fitz Fitzgerald played by Robbie Coltrane who works with the Greater Manchester Police GMP to help them solve crimes CrackerCreated byJimmy McGovernStarringRobbie ColtraneGeraldine SomervilleChristopher EcclestonRicky TomlinsonLorcan CranitchBarbara FlynnKieran O BrienCountry of originUnited KingdomOriginal languageEnglishNo of series3 2 specials No of episodes25 list of episodes ProductionExecutive producerSally HeadProducersGub NealPaul AbbottHilary Bevan JonesJohn ChapmanProduction locationsManchester EnglandRunning time50 mins Series 1 3 120 mins Specials Production companyGranada TelevisionReleaseOriginal networkITVOriginal release27 September 1993 1993 09 27 1 October 2006 2006 10 01 The show consists of three series originally broadcast from 1993 to 1995 A 100 minute special set in Hong Kong followed in 1996 and another two hour story in 2006 The show won the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series in 1995 and 1996 and Coltrane received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in three consecutive years 1994 to 1996 Contents 1 Overview 2 Characters 2 1 Main cast 2 2 Notable guest stars 3 Episodes 4 Production 5 Influences 6 Locations 7 Other versions 8 Home media 9 References 10 External linksOverview EditFitz is Scottish of Irish origin alcoholic a chain smoker obese sedentary addicted to gambling manic foul mouthed and sarcastic yet cerebral and brilliant He is a genius in his speciality criminal psychology As Fitz confesses in Brotherly Love I drink too much I smoke too much I gamble too much I am too much Each case spanned several episodes and cliffhangers were quite often used but it was not until the end of the second series that a cliffhanger was employed to tie off the series Some of the plotlines in the cases took as their starting point real events such as the Hillsborough disaster whilst others were purely fictional with only tangential ties to actual events Several different psychotic types were explored during the run of the show with increasingly complex psychological motivations that as the series entered the middle of the second series began to expand beyond the criminals being investigated to the regular cast members As the series moved forward the storylines became as much about the interactions of the regulars as they were about the crimes In many later episodes in fact the crimes often became background to intense provocative explorations of the police officers reactions to the crimes they investigated To emphasise how fine a line the police and Fitz walk in their close association with criminals all three series featured several stories in which the police become victims of crime or themselves commit criminal acts such as rape obstruction of justice and assault and battery Characters EditMain cast Edit Robbie Coltrane as Dr Edward Fitz Fitzgerald The character was named after the English poet and writer Edward FitzGerald according to series creator Jimmy McGovern Coltrane won three consecutive BAFTA awards for the role a streak matched only by Michael Gambon Helen Mirren and Julie Walters Christopher Eccleston as DCI David Billborough Ricky Tomlinson as DCI Charlie Wise Geraldine Somerville as DS Jane Panhandle Penhaligon Lorcan Cranitch as DS Jimmy Beck Barbara Flynn as Judith Fitzgerald Kieran O Brien as Mark Fitzgerald Tess Thomson as Katy Fitzgerald John Evans as James Fitzgerald Ian Mercer as DS George Giggs Colin Tierney as DC Bobby Harriman Robert Cavanah as DC Alan Temple Stan Finni as Sgt Smith Wil Johnson as PC DC Michael Skelton Clive Russell as Danny Fitzgerald Russell was cast at Coltrane s recommendation Amelia Bullmore Series 1 5 1 6 and Isobel Middleton Series 2 1 2 3 3 1 as Catriona Bilborough Edward Peel as the Chief SuperNotable guest stars Edit Adrian Dunbar as Thomas Francis Kelly Nicholas Woodeson as Michael Hennessy Andrew Tiernan as Sean Kerrigan Susan Lynch as Tina Brien Christopher Fulford as Nigel Cassidy Robert Carlyle as Albie Kinsella Samantha Morton as Joanne Barnes Jim Carter as Kenneth Trant Maureen O Brien as Virginia Trant James Fleet as Michael Trant Cherith Mellor as Norma Trant Graham Aggrey as Floyd Malcolm Mark Lambert as David Harvey Brid Brennan as Maggie Harvey John Simm as Bill Nash Preece Liam Cunningham as Stuart Grady Paul Barber as Ian McVerry Emily Joyce as Janice Barnaby Kay as Dennis Philby Anthony Flanagan as Kenny ArcherEpisodes EditMain article List of Cracker episodesProduction EditThe first two series were written by Jimmy McGovern excepting the fifth serial The Big Crunch which was contributed by Ted Whitehead Claiming that he had nothing more to write about 1 McGovern originally planned to leave after the second series but was allowed to write the controversial rape storyline Men Should Weep when he agreed to contribute a three part story to the third series Two of McGovern s stories To Say I Love You and Brotherly Love from the first and third series respectively received Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America Each serial had a different director with the exceptions of To Be a Somebody and True Romance both directed by Tim Fywell Paul Abbott who had produced the second series wrote the remainder of the episodes including the feature length special White Ghost Abbott later went on to create several high profile dramas including Touching Evil 1997 State of Play 2003 and Shameless 2004 Another crew member Nicola Shindler who worked as script editor on the programme later went on to found Red Production Company Of the regular cast only Coltrane and Tomlinson featured in White Ghost retitled Lucky White Ghost for some overseas markets which was set in Hong Kong Although the series was still drawing large audiences after White Ghost Coltrane declined to return as Fitz unless McGovern returned to write the series Cracker returned a decade after White Ghost in the 2006 special episode Nine Eleven written by McGovern and directed by Antonia Bird Coltrane Flynn and O Brien were the only actors to return in their previous roles The new roles of DCI Walters DS Saleh and DS McAllister were played by Richard Coyle Nisha Nayar and Rafe Spall respectively The story involved Fitz returning to Manchester after several years of living in Australia with Judith and his son James who had been born during the third series to attend his daughter Katy s wedding The murder of an American nightclub comedian sends the police to ask Fitz for his help Influences EditCracker storylines often begin by showing the crime being committed a format popularised by Columbo 2 Both series feature a lead character who solves crimes while masking an intelligent perceptive nature behind a slobbish exterior a debt acknowledged by Cracker creator Jimmy McGovern 3 Fitz delivers his summing up in To Say I Love You while doing a Peter Falk impression 4 Cracker s conception was also partly a reaction against the police procedural approach of fellow Granada crime serial Prime Suspect placing more emphasis on emotional and psychological truth than on correct police procedure In an interview with the NME McGovern dismissed Prime Suspect noting that Good TV writing has narrative simplicity and emotional complexity and characterising the series as A narratively complex story going up its own arse 5 Gub Neal who produced the first series of Cracker is quoted as saying That we had adopted the right approach was confirmed for me when Jacky Malton the senior woman police officer who advised on Prime Suspect said that although the way things happened in Cracker was sometimes highly improbable the relationships between the police were in many ways much more credible than they had been in Prime Suspect 6 Locations EditThe series was principally filmed in south Manchester at locations including Didsbury where Fitz lived at the fictitious address of 15 Charlotte Road 7 and the police station at Longsight The internals for the police station were filmed in the old Daily Mirror offices in central Manchester now The Printworks retail complex Other Manchester locations included Victoria Railway Station St Peter s Square Old Trafford the Arndale Centre UMIST University of Salford the Ramada Hotel The Star and Garter interior and exterior for the Best Boys episode and the Safeway supermarket now Morrisons in Chorlton cum Hardy The Hulme Crescents were also used for filming in the first two episodes of series one and the first episode of series two during which time they were being demolished The first episode involved several railway scenes which were filmed on the East Lancashire Railway in Bury north Manchester both on the trackside and inside the Carriage amp Wagon Works where working volunteers from the railway used crowbars to push the carriage springs up and down to suggest a moving train while water was poured on the windows to suggest rain between black polythene sheets and the window to indicate darkness Other versions EditIn 1997 a short spoof episode Prime Cracker was produced for the BBC s biennial Red Nose Day charity telethon in aid of Comic Relief A crossover with ITV stablemate crime drama Prime Suspect the spoof starred Coltrane and Prime Suspect lead Helen Mirren as their characters from the respective series sending up both shows In 1997 a 16 part US version of Cracker directed by Stephen Cragg and Michael Fields was made starring Robert Pastorelli in Coltrane s role The original UK story lines were transferred to Los Angeles The series finished after the first season It was broadcast in the UK retitled Fitz Home media EditSeries Title Region 1 Region 21 The Mad Woman in the Attic 14 October 2003 8 12 May 2003 9 To Say I Love You 12 May 2003 4 One Day A Lemming Will Fly 12 May 2003 10 2 To Be a Somebody 24 February 2004 11 12 May 2003 12 The Big Crunch 12 May 2003 13 Men Should Weep 12 May 2003 14 3 Brotherly Love 20 April 2004 15 12 May 2003 16 Best Boys 12 May 2003 17 True Romance 12 May 2003 18 Special White Ghost TBA 12 May 2003 19 Special Nine Eleven aka A New Terror 28 August 2007 20 TBA1 3 The Complete Collection 10 March 2009 21 16 October 2006 22 References Edit Head case SMH com au 30 September 2004 Cracker comes off as a little stale The Buffalo News Retrieved 16 May 2020 Billingham Mark 10 September 2007 I m Just Another Cop My Name Is Columbo The Rap Sheet Retrieved 16 May 2020 a b Cracker To Say I Love You DVD 1993 Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Wells Steven 28 October 1995 Ratings guzzling uber TV show Cracker is back to peel away the scabs of post Hillsborough Britain NME IPC Media Crace 1994 pp 22 24 From the business card that Fitz presents to his stalker in the episode True Romance Cracker Series 1 DVD Blu ray com Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker The Mad Woman In The Attic DVD 1993 Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker One Day a Lemming Will Fly DVD 1993 Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker Series 2 DVD Blu ray com Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker To Be a Somebody DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker The Big Crunch DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker Men Should Weep DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker Series 3 DVD Blu ray com Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker Brotherly Love DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker Best Boys DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker True Romance DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker White Ghost DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker A New Terror DVD Blu ray com Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker The Complete Collection DVD Blu ray com Retrieved 2 March 2020 Cracker Complete Collection Box Set DVD Amazon co uk Retrieved 2 March 2020 Crace John 1994 Cracker The Truth Behind The Fiction Granada Boxtree ISBN 0 7522 0974 4 Duguid Mark 2009 Cracker BFI TV Classics Basingstoke Palgrave Macmillan BFI Publishing ISBN 978 1 84457 263 2 External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Cracker Cracker at itv com Cracker at the British Film Institute Cracker at the BFI s Screenonline Cracker 1993 at IMDb Cracker 2006 at IMDb Cracker at epguides com The Unofficial Guide To Cracker Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Cracker British TV series amp oldid 1131632277, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.