Visit the official Doctor Who website

Visit the official Doctor Who website
Look to the future

Asylum seekers...

Asylum seekers...
Refuge of the Daleks

Doctor Who picture resource

Doctor Who picture resource
Roam the space lanes!

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website

Explore the Doctor Who classic series website
Step back in time

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood

Infiltrate The Hub of Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood
Armed and extremely dangerous

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures

Investigate The Sarah Jane Adventures
Fearless in the face of adversity

Call on Dani’s House

Call on Dani’s House
Harmer’s a charmer

Intercept the UFO fabsite

Intercept the UFO fabsite
Defending the Earth against alien invaders!

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse

Uncover the secrets of the Dollhouse
Programmable agent Echo exposed!

Hell’s belles

Hell’s belles
Naughty but nice

Love Exposure

Love Exposure
Flash photography!

Primeval portal

Primeval portal
Dressed to kill or damsels in distress?

Charmed, to be sure!

Charmed, to be sure!
The witches of San Francisco

Take on t.A.T.u.

Take on t.A.T.u.
All the way from Moscow

Proceed to the Luther website

Proceed to the Luther website
John and Jenny discuss their next move

DCI Banks is on the case

DCI Banks is on the case
You can bet on it!

On The Grid with Spooks

On The Grid with Spooks
Secret agents of Section D

Bridge to Hustle

Bridge to Hustle
Shady characters

Life on Ashes To Ashes

Life on Ashes To Ashes
Coppers with a chequered past

Claire’s no Exile

Claire’s no Exile
Goose steps

Vexed is back on the beat!

Vexed is back on the beat!
Mismatched DI Armstrong and bright fast-tracker Georgina Dixon

Medium, both super and natural

Medium, both super and natural
Open the door to your dreams

Who’s that girl? (350-picture Slideshow)

Thursday 5 October 2006

Cracked Actor



“Cracker” was back, for the first time in ten years, on Sunday evening for a one-off feature-length episode and written by its creator, the brilliant and extremely likeable Jimmy McGovern. Entitled “Nine Eleven”, it featured many of the trademarks of previous stories, revealing the killer early on, thus enabling the narrative to concentrate on the why rather than the who. Despite the title, the story centred on the aftermath of the Troubles of Northern Ireland for one particular ex-squaddie called Kenny, engagingly played by Anthony Flanagan, now working in the Manchester Police Force and with six years service behind him. Psychologist Fitz (Robbie Coltrane) returns to Manchester from Australia for the first time in seven years, for his daughter’s wedding, only to find the city redeveloped after the IRA bombing and becomes embroiled in the case, much to the annoyance of his long-suffering wife, played as ever by Barbara Flynn.

Richard Coyle, best known for sitcom “Coupling”, played Fitz’s new boss DI Walters and good though he was, especially when losing his temper, I did miss the sincerity and wisecracks of Ricky Tomlinson as DCI Charlie Wise, who joined the drama in its second series as the replacement for outgoing DCI David Bilborough played by Christopher Eccleston, together with the other original regulars DS Jane Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville) and DS Jimmy Beck (Lorcan Cranitch). The latter, of course, committed suicide in quite spectacular fashion, in third season opener “Brotherly Love”, unable to cope with both the guilt he felt over the nature of Eccleston’s demise and the subsequent descent of his own character compelling him to rape colleague “Panhandle”. In the latest story, Belfast serves the same function as Hillsborough in that most highly-regarded of “Cracker” serials “To Be A Somebody”, the 1989 football disaster being part of the trigger which ignites the never-bettered Robert Carlyle as Albie Kinsella on the road to ruin, but “Nine Eleven” is still cracking stuff. Kenny, the copper with problems, driving his first victim’s Mother, and intended next victim, back to her residence is reminiscent of a scene in “Men Should Weep” in which taxi-driver Floyd Malcolm (Graham Aggrey), wanted for rape, gives a ride to a witness who, during their journey, fleetingly recognises her cabbie’s turn of phrase.

I do think the “radical departure from the norm of police procedural dramas” element has been overstated somewhat in the promotion of “Cracker”. There are a number of Hitchcock thrillers, Joseph Cotten as the Merry Widow Murderer in “Shadow of a Doubt” and Barry Foster dubbed the Necktie Murderer in “Frenzy” for example, that tell you who the killer is long before the resolution. But hype hasn’t detracted from the quality of the product. McGovern’s creation remains one of the jewels of ITV’s output and its resurrection hasn’t undermined what went before, back in the early Nineties. The new episode is available on DVD from the 9th of this month together with the entire back catalogue of stories, from the 16th, either individually or as a box set. I have a sneaking admiration for two of the non-McGovern penned stories, “True Romance” by Paul Abbott, featuring Emily Joyce as an unhinged admirer of Fitz’s, but especially “The Big Crunch” by Ted Whitehead, featuring the always excellent Samantha Morton as schoolgirl victim of creepy Head Teacher and Minister Jim Carter ably supported by ex-“Doctor Who” companion Maureen O’Brien as his wife. But if you want the essence of “Cracker”, go for “To Be A Somebody” or “To Say I Love You”.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Tim,

Sorry I haven't commented for so long. I signed up to Blogger Beta and couldn't comment on non-beta sites for AGES...

I used to love Cracker but, for me at least, it hit its peak with To Be A Somebody. After that I found its unrelenting bleakness became its biggest weakness. I haven't seen the new one but it sounds like a failed attempt by McGovern to get back on TV.

TimeWarden said...

I agree that "Cracker" peaked with "To Be A Somebody" and that the series as a whole is unrelentingly bleak. (Perhaps that's why ITV3 follow it with "The Two Ronnies"!) However, I also think it's that which made/makes it so compelling.

Dunno about McGovern trying to get back on TV. Don't forget "The Streets" aired earlier in the year though I don't know how successful it was, either artistically or in terms of ratings.

Anonymous said...

I had forgotten The Street actually. A bit like Chris Carter, I don't think he ever had as big a hit as Cracker. He did some good stuff of course but nothing that was quite as memorable with the public. Which is why The Lakes and The Street won't be having comeback shows in ten years time...