Cracker
In Edward 'Fitz' Fitzgerald, Robbie Coltrane concocted one of television's most memorable anti-heroes. The gambling, chain-smoking, heavy-drinking, overweight psychologist may have incorporated almost every vice known to man but viewers delighted in the ease with which he mercilessly beat lesser men to an intellectual pulp. Unlike its contemporaries, Cracker was never concerned with the whodunit aspect (the perpetrator was generally revealed in the first scenes) but rather built up to the moment Fitz got the suspect in an interview room. Assaulting them with cutting insight and outright provocation, the portly profiler bent them to his will and put the squeeze on until they finally cracked. Arguably the finest drama Britain has produced - just don't mention the lamentable US remake. Best Episode
To Be A Somebody (Season 2, Episode 1), Robert Carlyle as psychotic footie fan Albie Kinsella. "L-I-V, E-R-P, Double-O-L, Liverpool FC!"
Did You Know?
The controversial rape of DS Penhaligon in Men Shot Weep was originally conceived by Cracker creator Jimmy McGovern as a storyline for Detective Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.
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