A superb drama, with wit and great acting **character spoilers, if there is such a thing**

Hancock_the_Superb

When I first heard about "Cracker" (in the Video Movie Guide), I'd only seen one thing with Robbie Coltraine in it ("Ink and Incapability", the episode of BA III with Dr. Johnson's dictionary).  By the time I finally got around to actually watching the show, however, Coltraine had become one of my favorite actors, and after viewing several episodes of this show, that place has been cemented.

   Coltraine's Edward Fitzgerald is one of the most compelling television characters ever.  He's a gambler, and a chronic smoker and drinker (6 or 7 bottles a week, and 50-60 cigarettes a day), so he is hardly an admirable figure.  He also comes off to me as something of a misogynist (sp.?), given his treatment of his wife (during the midst of an argument with her, he continues saying, "Come to bed with me" until she finally relents) and fooling around with other women, and is very sarcastic (most of the show's humor comes from him).  And yet, he is a brilliant psychologist who can smell a rat a mile a way and is usually, despite all his domestic and personal problems, a step ahead of the criminals - and always a step ahead of his colleagues in the police, who are Fitz's archenemies, and yet continue asking for his help when the chips are down ("He's havin' fits, Fitz!"/"Yeah, well I'm still in custody, Custody!").  Coltraine's superb performance is to be commended.

   The villains are a mixed bag; I found the couple from "To Say I Love You" quite annoying; but the murderer from "To Be A Somebody", played by the brilliant Robert Carlyle ("The Full Monty", "The World Is Not Enough" [which, incidentally, co-starred Coltraine]), is a quite human character who gains more confidence the more he kills (though his motives aren't really clear as far as I'm concerned).  

   The supporting cast (I'm not looking up any names right now, lest my comment be erased when I return) is equally superb.

   Nine stars. "Jimmy's got something to say to you." "Let me guess . . . bollocks?"

score 10/10

Hancock_the_Superb 12 December 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0316038/