Amazon.com reviews for
"Cracker" (1993) More at IMDbPro »

The Best of Cracker Mysteries (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: Mystery fans tend to like their heroes fallible--gumshoes like Phillip Marlowe, DCI Jane Tennyson, and Dave Robicheaux have all been guilty of moral lapses in the course of righting larger wrongs. But it's hard to imagine a protagonist less saintly than Dr. Eddie Fitzgerald, a forensic psychologist based in northern England--his thirst for alcohol and gambling are surpassed only by his arrogance and famous temper. As played by the incomparable Robbie Coltrane, Fitz is so overbearing and rigid in his beliefs he can be a little hard to take, yet his innate brilliance at solving crimes and his essential goodness--that admittedly can seem all but buried under his bristly exterior--keep the viewer engaged and rooting for him.

These episodes, from the series produced by Granada TV and aired in the U.S. by A&E, are among its finest. The Mad Woman in the Attic (directed by Welcome to Sarajevo's Michael Winterbottom) traces the case of a soft-spoken man with that hoariest of television ailments, amnesia, after having jumped (or was he pushed?) from a moving train upon which a young woman was horrifically slashed to death. Fitz must determine if the suspect is innocent or playing deadly mind games. The Cable Ace-winning To Say I Love You finds Fitz on the trail of a neo-Bonnie-and-Clyde couple on a murderous rampage across the British countryside. And One Day a Lemming Will Fly features a teen suicide that turns out to be murder, and Fitz must battle a complacent police force as much as he does the elusive criminal. For crime fans, Cracker is indispensable and is an impressive reminder of what television can achieve when it sets its sights high enough. --Anne Hurley

Cracker:Mad Woman in the Attic (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: This episode of the acclaimed Granada TV/A&E series finds our hero, the hard-drinking, compulsive-gambling, arrogant yet brilliant Dr. Eddie Fitzgerald, forensic psychologist affiliated with the Manchester, England, police department, assailed from all sides. His long-suffering wife, Judith, is at the end of her rope with Fitz's destructive habits, and his law-enforcement colleagues have no patience with his reluctance to unilaterally decree that a prime suspect in their most recent sensational case is guilty. A man is found bloodied and dazed near a railroad track in northern England, suffering from that hoariest of TV conventions, amnesia. It turns out he jumped (or was he thrown?) from a train upon which a young woman--the third in a series--was brutally slashed to death. Fitz must determine whether the soft-spoken, clearly well educated fellow is in fact innocent--or whether he is playing a deadly mind game. The title refers to a typical Fitz remark--that lost memory is like the madwoman locked away in the attic: occasionally you hear a scream but you don't dare go near the door. Sometimes it's hard to like the pigheaded Fitz, but the direction of Michael Winterbottom (who also directed the acclaimed feature Welcome to Sarajevo) and the stellar writing make for a terrifically satisfying--and occasionally unsettling--armchair detective experience. --Anne Hurley

Cracker:to Say I Love You (vhs):

Amazon.com video review: The hero of the acclaimed Granada TV/A&E series, the hard-drinking and -gambling Dr. Eddie Fitzgerald, forensic psychologist for the Manchester, England, police department, is a hard guy to like, but a hard guy not to be utterly fascinated by. In this Cable Ace Award-winning episode (for best show, best director, and a much-deserved best actor), Fitz, played with immense assurance by Robbie Coltrane, is sucked into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a serial-killing young couple who proudly pattern themselves on Bonnie and Clyde and envision dying in the same glorious hail of bullets. Fitz's only hope is to separate them to try to diffuse the hold they have on one another--before more innocent people are slain. Time (and Fitz's own destructive personality) are not on his side, sending the stakes ever higher. Cracker is one series armchair detectives should not miss. --Anne Hurley