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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Drama
    Drama TV Shows - 1990s 2 Mins Read

    Cracker

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    1 9 9 3 – 1 9 9 6 (UK)
    1 x 100 minute episode
    23 x 50 minute episodes

    Writer Jimmy McGovern imagined Fitz as a quiet, wiry individual, but the casting of heavy-set Robbie Coltrane took the role in a different direction entirely.

    Coltrane made Fitz an intellectual bully, an alcoholic gambler whose addictions drove his family away. He was contemptuous of the police and thought he could solve cases better than they could.

    In his first association with Detective Cheif Inspector Bilborough (Christopher Eccleston), he succeeded only in proving their one suspect innocent (the real culprit was revealed to the audience, but escaped undetected), while his goading of a murderer through the press resulted in the violent death of an officer.

    For all Fitz’s faults, there was something seductive about his rudeness. Viewers approved of his refusal to obey the rules at the ‘nine items or less’ checkout line in the supermarket and his baiting of a sexist officer.

    His relationship with Detective Sergeant Jane Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville) was more complicated. He enjoyed teasing her (calling her ‘panhandle’) but shared her frustration that she was often overlooked because of her gender.

    Cracker was never comfortable viewing. Like its ITV counterpart Prime Suspect (1991), it explored some of the darkest areas of the human psyche. But every episode was gripping, none more so than the season two opener, ‘To Be A Somebody’.

    In 1997, Cracker was remade as Fitz for American TV with Robert Pastorelli in the title role. It lost much of the appeal of the original and lasted only one season.

    Robbie Coltrane passed away on 14 October 2022, aged 72.

    Dr Eddie ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald
    Robbie Coltrane
    DS Jane ‘Panhandle’ Penhaligon
    Geraldine Somerville
    Mark Fitzgerald
    Kieran O’Brien
    Judith Fitzgerald
    Barbara Flynn
    DS Jimmy Beck
    Lorcan Cranitch
    DCI Charlie Wise
    Ricky Tomlinson
    Kate ‘Katie’ Fitzgerald
    Tess Thomson
    DCI David Bilborough
    Christopher Eccleston

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