Cracker

This is extraordinary TV/film-making. It is as good as Sopranos or Six Feet Under. Complex, deep, filled with the unexpected. I, like others, have found that British drama can be a bit slow, but this is anything but slow. First rate writing and acting all around. I can't add much to what others have said. This is truly the real Magoo. I am amazed that I have not seen this series written up everywhere. Hate to build it up to others, because I came upon it relatively unbuilt up and it just knocked me out. Sorry for all the hyperbole, but this deserves it. Robbie Coltrane is quite the 300 + pound sex symbol. All of of the actors play human beings with strengths and weakness, with complex interactions. The Big Sleep has nothing on this. Prime Suspect is good too, but the characters here are more believable.

I stumbled onto "Cracker" knowing nothing about it nor Robbie Coltrane. After getting into the series, I felt as if I'd died and gone to heaven. Previous writers have written very well about the brilliance of Robbie Coltrane's acting and Jimmy McGovern's writing. "Cracker" and so many other well-directed, -acted, -written British detective series beg the question: Why is Hollywood incapable of this stuff? With few exceptions, the U.S. film industry fails and fails so miserably. Except for the folks at HBO and the Boston PBS affiliate WGBH in collaboration with like-minded professionals in the U.K., "the suits" of the American film industry seem unwilling to gamble on a series like (the British version of) "Cracker." I also highly recommend "Foyle's War," "Touching Evil," and "Second Sight" if you're a fan of brilliant British detective series. "Prime Suspect" remains on my list to watch among some others, all British. I am forever thankful these are all available on DVD.

It's impossible to overstate how classy this programme is. The cast are uniformly superb, Jimmy Mc Govern's writing is by times disturbing and violent, by times deeply compassionate, and the overall tone of the piece is dark and moody, but with just enough ascerbic humour to lighten the weight.

Coltrane is excellent here, but he's spoiled also; he's been given one of the best-written roles in TV history, but he portrays Fitz with effortless panache. No easy thing given the complexity of the character. He's an almost supernaturally gifted psychologist, but he can't understand his wife and son; he's capable of real understanding and compassion, but is an inveterate user of people despite himself.

The supporting cast are excellent, and those actors brought in to play "villains of the week" almost always hold their own. You'll cry when, at the end of "To Say I Love You", the young stutterer realises he'll never be able to say the things to his girlfriend that he wants to say. Robert Carlyle's Albie in "To Be Somebody" is one of the standout characters of the entire series. Fitz's final chat with the put-upon Catholic housewife in "Brotherly Love" is truly disturbing, but heartbreaking too. You'll feel for each of these characters, which is an amazing feat by all concerned in the making, considering their crimes are so graphically portrayed, and the show is so unflinching about revealing the kinds of effects violent crime has on survivors, and the families of the victims. This is classy television.

It's not without it's faults, of course. The standard does tend to take a nose-dive when Jimmy Mc Govern's not writing (not by much, sometimes, but always perceptibly) and the quite graphic nature of most of the episodes means this won't be to everyone's taste, but these are small flaws. This is wonderful stuff. It's impossible to overstate this fact, so i'll say it again: this is really classy television.

It is difficult to define it. Because it is a spectacular, well made crime serie. But,first, it represents an experience. Sure, a British serie, with all his virtues. But, in same measure, one of magnificent performances of Robert Coltrane. And a "cool" script.

I cannot recommend this highly enough. A fiercely intelligent, disturbing, powerful, funny masterwork by a writer and cast at their peak. The main character, Dr Fitzgerald, a lecturing psychologist who assists the police was originally envisaged by the writer (Jimmy McGovern) as a small, wiry character. Then some genius decided on one of the greatest pieces of stunt casting ever and suggested the massive actor Robbie Coltrane who was better known for comedy (appearing in Blackadder as Doctor Johnson, and the Young Ones, amongst many other appearance, both in TV and film).

He nailed the character totally. A chain smoking, gambling, alcoholic, 'Fitz' can talk to someone for 30 seconds and know what drives them, but he can't control his own domestic life. Nor does he ever seem totally to want to. "You don't want to be helped" says his wife "Because only normal people need help. And you think you're special, unique".

His gift of analysing people makes him almost despicable arrogant, yet we are always on his side. He is charming, extremely sarcastic and amusing, and always up for a trip to the pub. But the challenge of analysing the criminally insane gives him wings to stretch himself in ways everyday life can't.

I won't give away any of the plots, but each one would make a fantastic film on its own. However that would diminish the power of the story arc that runs throughout - and that pushes the series up to a perfect 10/10. Harrowing, touching, powerful - when will TV companies make something this good again.

(NB if you can only watch one episode watch 'To be a somebody' - an excellent encapsulation of all the programme's best qualities)