Cracker is without a doubt one of the best television series to ever emerge from Great Britain. Not only did it give Scottish comedian Robbie Coltrane (whom most Harry Potter fans know only as “Hagrid”) a change to truly show what a superb dramatic actor he was, but it also turned the tired old Police Drama formula onto its ugly head and sent it spinning into the oblivion--thanks to the wonderful writing by series creator/writer Jimmy McGovern (Priest).

Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald (Coltrane) is not your average psychologist. His powers of observation border on genius. His ability to play by the rules and formalities that civilization has placed upon us are completely null and void. He’s the kind of man that can sum you up within the first five seconds of looking at you. He is--in all probability--the best. But in order to fully understand the heartless voids that are located in the souls of those compelled to rape, rob, and kill, the onlooker himself cannot be perfect--and so Fitz himself a flawed individual. Terribly flawed.

He drinks incessantly (think Oliver Reed, only celebrating). Womanizes inveterately (again, Oliver Reed). Gambles unremittingly (picture the Earl of Sandwich in the middle of a lucky streak). Smokes non-stop (imagine Walt Disney on his most stressed out day ever). His wife and kids despise him. Even his colleagues have a hard time putting up with him. And yet, all of those oh-so-unfortunately-human characteristics throw together formed an individual that had audiences on both sides of the pond gritting their teeth with love…a full eleven years before Hugh Laurie strutted onto American airwaves as Dr. Gregory House, MD.

Acorn Media is proud to release Cracker - The Complete Collection, a 10-Disc set featuring all three landmark series of the multi award-winning show which ran from 1993 to 1995, as well as two standalone TV movies released in 1996 and 2006.

Series One
Disc One: “The Mad Woman In The Attic” Parts 1 & 2 (1993 / Directed by Michael Winterbottom) - A serial killer that has been slashing young maidens in London and subsequently shaving their pubic hair has the bobbies baffled. Psychologist Edward Fitzgerald, having been left by his wife Judith (Barbara Flynn) for his compulsive gambling habits once again, takes an interest in “Sweeney’s” latest butchering, as the victim was one of his most promising students. The police discover an unconscious and amnesiac man (Adrian Dunbar) alongside of the train tracks where the last murder was committed. Believing him to be the killer, DCI Bilborough (a then unknown Christopher Eccleston) and his pornstached asshole of a sidekick DS Beck (Lorcan Cranitch) start an intensive interrogation of the man, while Fitz attempts to team up with the sultry redhead DS “Panhandle” Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville, another future Harry Potter regular--she plays Harry’s mum, FYI) to figure out if the forgetful suspect is guilty or not.

Disc Two: “To Say I Love You” Parts 1, 2 & 3 (1993 / Directed by Andy Wilson) - Two social rejects named Sean and Tina (Andrew Tiernan and Susan Lynch, respectively) are placed together by the mysterious hands of fate and fall in love. Unable to really grasp the world that they live in, they do what all social reject couples do and start killing people à la Tina’s favorite movie, Bonnie & Clyde (and really, who hasn’t wanted to do such a thing?). Beginning with Tina’s lowlife loan shark, their murderous spree instantly brings the attention of the police (although what‘s so bad about a dead loan shark?). Although he’s already on thin ice with the authorities as it is, Fitz’ personal life takes another bad turn with Judith demands he enter Gamblers Anonymous (a classic moment), and an even worse turn when sexual tensions between he and Penhaligon start to surface. In the meantime, Judith takes solace in the arms of her psychologist--who also happens to head the local Gamblers Anonymous meetings.

Disc Three: “One Day A Lemming Will Fly” Parts 1 & 2 (1993 / Directed by Simon Cellan Jones) - More trials and tribulations abound for all as the body of a thirteen-year-old boy is found hanging in the woods--the victim of an unknown killer; Judith begs Fitz to forgive her unfaithfulness; Bilborough starts to have kittens over his wife having a baby; Penhaligon ask Fitz to come away with her for a two-week vacation; and Beck’s rampant homophobia emerges when the one and only suspect in the murder is the dead lad’s English teacher (Christopher Fulford), whom Fitz and the police believe is a closet homosexual.

Series Two
Disc Four: “To Be A Somebody” Parts 1, 2 & 3 (1994 / Directed by Tim Fywell) - Robert Carlyle delivers one of the most terrifyingly realistic performances of his career as Albie Kinsella, an educated member of the working class whose life is in turmoil following the death of his father from cancer and his frustration of being just another bloke who is completely undistinguishable from anyone else in the crowd. Albie’s aggravation gets the better of him one day at a local shop when he and the Pakistani storeowner (Badi Uzzaman) argue over the costly amount of four pence (a pence being the equivalent of a cent for those of you unfamiliar with the English monetary system--barring the exchange rate, of course), and soon poor Albie is sporting a shaven head and executing nationals and foreigners alike. Fitz is in hot water with Judith (she moves out), Bilborough (for being a jerk), Penhaligon (over standing her up at the airport), and Beck (because Beck’s an idiot) so neither of the three take heed of Fitz’ picture perfect profile of the killer until it’s too late and one of them winds up dead.

Disc Five: “The Big Crunch” Parts 1, 2 & 3 (1994 / Directed by Julian Jarrold) - The first episode of Cracker to not be written by series creator Jimmy McGovern. No, instead of Jimmy, it’s Tim Whitehead that pens this chapter, which accurately depicts just how despicable those “good Christian” hypocrites can really be. The Fellowship Of Souls’ headmaster, shepherd Kenneth Trent (Jim Carter), finds himself in a pickle with his wife Virginia (Maureen O’Brien) after she discovers he’s been repeatedly slipping his own pickle in and out of one of his sixteen-year-old students, Joanne (Samantha Morton). Kenneth’s sister-in-law Norma (Cherith Mellor) even has some dirty photographs to prove his unfaithfulness. Together with Kenneth’s daft brother Michael (James Fleet), the Trant family does what any good Christian sect would do and opt to kill the young woman, but things get complicated when the daft Michael’s even more daft employee Dean (Darren Tighe) lets the cat out of the bag (or box, as it were). Meanwhile, Beck’s guilt over Bilborough’s death grows, the new DCI Wise (Ricky Tomlinson) starts to get the hang of his crew, and Fitz’ relationship with Penhaligon escalates to a new level--much to the dismay of Fitz’ son, Mark (Kieran O’Brien).

Disc Six: “Men Should Weep” Parts 1, 2 & 3 (1994 / Directed by Jean Stewart) - One of the rougher chapters in the series starts out with Fitz hosting a radio shrink call-in programme and focuses on serial rapist Floyd Malcolm (Graham Aggrey), who attempts to form “relationships” with his victims by talking to them after violating them, making sure to conceal his identity (as well as any evidence) the whole time. This three-parter establishes the alienation between Penhaligon and her insensitive male colleagues, particularly after she herself is raped. The police believe Penhaligon’s attacker to be the same man, although Fitz (who has enough problems of his own after his wife Judith returns with some big news) has different ideas. Struggling to overcome it all, Penhaligon starts her own investigation to find out who in fact did molest her.

Series Three
Disc Seven: “Brotherly Love” Parts 1, 2 & 3 (1995 / Directed by Roy Battersby) - Married man and father of four David Harvey (Mark Lambert) kills a prostitute (herself a mother of two) when he is unable to pay the woman of the night (who threatens to tell his wife). After David is arrested, his wife Maggie (Brid Brennan) is devastated. Next thing you know, similar murders start to occur, with the same MO being used and even the same DNA being left behind. Fitz assumes that it’s David’s own brother, local priest Father Michael Harvey (David Calder), but Father Harvey himself suspects somebody else. To top it all off for Fitz, his mother has died; his brother Danny (Clive Russell) has appeared out of the blue and is most upset at him for being a negligent son/sibling; Judith confronts Penhaligon about her relationship with Fitz--and later goes into labor; and Fitz finally gets to take a willing peek into “sad bastard” Beck’s deranged mind, shortly before Beck loses it for good. This was the last Cracker to be written by Jimmy McGovern until the 2006 TV movie, “A New Terror.”

Disc Eight: “Best Boys” Parts 1 & 2 (1995 / Directed by Charles McDougall) - Shameless creator Paul Abbott takes over as writer for the remainder of Series Three with a homoerotic tale of star-crossed lovers. Thirtysomething Stuart (Liam Cunningham, who could pass for Gary Sinise’s brother) is a factory foreman who takes a homeless runaway named Bill (John Simm) back to his pad so that the poor boy can have a couch to sleep on. When Stuart’s landlady discovers the pair and begins to shout “shirt puller,” the two wind up killing her. Fleeing from the police and the world around them, the titular Best Boys begin to stalk Bill’s former foster family--the whole time blissfully unaware that they are falling in love with each other. Back at home, Judith is on the verge of a nervous breakdown and ignores infant James in lieu of drinking instead--leaving Mark and Danny to help Fitz out ‘round the house.

“True Romance” Parts 1 & 2 (1995 / Directed by Tim Fywell) - After rape, robbery, homicide, and suicide, there’s not much left for Fitz and the Greater Manchester Police to really get into, is there? Well, fear not: “True Romance” introduces a psycho female stalker into the mix. Janice (Emily Joyce) is a lonely mature student at university whose failed relationships with family members and men alike has led her to an unhealthy obsession with Fitz (like any obsession with Fitz is healthy!) and she starts to write him love letters. The letters later turn into clues when Janice, finally fed-up with the male species in general, begins to electrocute the younger college students after having sex with them--dumping their bodies out into ditches afterward. She then sets her sights on Mark, Fitz’ son. Sadly, this final episode of the original series (while powerful) leaves a lot of unanswered questions, such as the outcome of Danny and Judith’s pseudo affair and Penhaligon’s impending resignation (to name a few).

TV Movie #1
Disc Nine: “White Ghost” (1996 / Directed by Richard Standeven) - The weakest entry in the series was the first of two TV movies (the second was “A New Terror”--see below) finds Fitz in Hong Kong during a lecture tour. Local businessman Dennis Philby (Barnaby Kay) has a baby on the way with his girlfriend Su Lin Tang (Rene Liu) and is having some serious cash problems with his business, prompting his rich friend Peter Yang (Benedict Wong) to offer to buy him out. Resenting Peter’s success and his own failure, Dennis beings a murder spree. Since Hong Kong police are unfamiliar with the whole criminal psychology thing, Commissioner Ellison (Michael Pennington) asks Fitz to help out DCI Janet Lee Cheung (Freda Foh Shen). Fitz in turn requests that Penhaligon be flown over to assist him in the case, and isn’t at all happy when he sees a jetlagged DCI Wise hop off of the plane instead. As to why writer Paul Abbott even bothered throwing Ricky Tomlinson’s character of DCI Wise into this special is beyond me: he does very little but sit around and bark out the odd orders to HK Police (wouldn’t they just ignore him anyway?). After this, Robbie Coltrane refused to do any more Cracker unless Jimmy McGovern came back onboard--and it only took ten years to happen.

TV Movie #2
Disc Ten: “A New Terror” (2006 / Directed by Antonia Bird) - The most recent (and perhaps last?) chapter in the Cracker legacy marked the welcomed return of writer/creator Jimmy McGovern, enabling him to take out his aggressions towards George W. Bush and Tony Blair’s controversial War On Terror. Having spent the last seven years living in Australia with their young son James (John Evans), Fitz and Judith return to Merrie Olde England to attend their daughter’s wedding (their daughter played by Stefanie Wilmore this time around). Fitz is a bit down over the way things have changed around the country: from the remodeling of an old police station into a commercial store down to the tension felt by the majority towards the war in Iraq. Kenny Archer (Anthony Flanagan) is another man feeling a bit tense these days--and his growing hatred at America for supplying the arms that resulted in several of his comrades being killed in Northern Ireland has left him with two dire options: kill himself, or kill others. Unfortunately, Kenny’s not the do-it-yourself kind of guy, and a new set of detectives (Nisha Nayar and Richard Coyle) call upon Fitz’ expertise to find the elusive murderer--much to the dismay of Fitz’ family (again). While Barbara Flynn and Kieran O’Brien return to reprise their roles of Judith and Mark Fitzgerald from the original series, characters such as Wise and Penhaligon are not to be seen or heard from. Maybe a few years down the road, we’ll get another entry--an entry that will satisfy us loose-end snobs. Maybe. But until then, I’m content that we didn’t end with “White Ghost.”

Presentation
Well, kids, allow me to first say “British Television from the Early 90s” before I tell you about the video quality here: look it’s British Television from the Early 90s, OK? The first two discs worth of episodes are rather fuzzy, somewhat soft, relatively grainy, and very, umm--well, very much like British Television from the Early 90s. The film stock used in the original episodes must have been sitting around for a bit is all I can guess. The clarity of the episodes clears up a bit by the time we hit Disc 3, and even more so as we move on. Obviously, Disc 10’s feature was a newer production and much more on par with what many of us expect on DVD (it’s also the only anamorphic widescreen presentation in the whole lot--the others were all filmed standard).

At the beginning of each episode, a caption reads “Dolby Surround,” so I’ve always been a bit puzzled as to why every chapter of Cracker was encoded with an English Dolby Stereo soundtrack instead. At times, it sounds very much like it was supposed to be Surround as opposed to Stereo, but either way, it’s not that big of a problem. Optional English Subtitles are available on all discs (with Closed Captioning available on “A New Terror”).

Extras
Discs One and Ten contain a few Promos for other sterling British television programmes on DVD from Acorn Media. Disc Ten also holds Cracker: Behind The Scenes (45:47), a Featurette that was made prior to the airing of “A New Terror” to re-familiarize the public with Fitz and the gang. The Featurette goes behind the scenes with the newer entry and revisits many of the older episodes, giving writer Jimmy McGovern and actors Robbie Coltrane, Christopher Eccleston, and Lorcan Cranitch a chance to discuss their work and (more importantly) their feelings toward the show and its success. While it may, in reality, be nothing more than a television promotional piece, it’s still a good viewing--and besides, it’s the only other Special Feature we get aside from a Robbie Coltrane Biography; some Cast Bibliographies (also for “A New Terror”); and the aforementioned Trailers.

The Bottom Line
“He’s made his demands!”
“Yeah?”

“He wants two bottles of single-malt whiskey.”
“What?”

I can’t emphasize this enough, kids: Cracker is an absolutely superb series--and this much-needed box set from Acorn Media is easily one of the best releases of 2009. So, break out the single-malt scotch, light up a pack of cigarettes and lay all of your money on Cracker - The Complete Collection. It’s a sure bet.