CRACKER - DVD review

Before becoming internationally famous for his role as Hogwarts' gamekeeper Hagrid in the Harry Potter movies, Scottish gentle giant Robbie Coltrane first gained fame (plus a few BAFTA Best TV Actor awards--BAFTA is the British equivalent of the Oscars) for his terrific portrayal of criminal psychologist, Dr. Edward Fitzgerald in the early 1990's popular British crime series, "Cracker". First appearing on the BBC in 1993, "Cracker" ran for three seasons or three years plus a special episode in 1996. Written and created by popular TV/film writer Jimmy McGovern (one of his film credits includes 1994's "Priest"), "Cracker" is an eclectic combination of crime solving coupled with a protagonist that is sometimes more flawed than the very criminals he stalks.

"Cracker: Series 1" is a 3-DVD set that consists of three major storylines, one on each disc. Disc One contains "The Mad Woman in the Attic" (2 episodes), Disc Two is " To Say I Love You" (3 episodes) and Disc Three offers "One Day a Lemming Will Fly" (2 episodes). "Series 1" contains the entire first year that the series went on the air, which in American broadcasting terms, is the first season.

Better known as Fitz, Dr. Fitzgerald is far from the perfect husband and father. He drinks too much, smokes too much and he has a serious gambling addiction. So much for being a good role model. In fact, early in the first episode of the series, we see Fitz's wife, Judith (Barbara Flynn) packing her bags and taking their young daughter to stay at her father's after Fitz gambles their savings away. This sets the stage for an oft-visited theme of Fitz trying to put his life back together while trying to solve crimes. When he is sober, which is a rare occurrence, Fitz is highly capable of picking away at the details of a crime scene or at the mind of a suspect. However, as Judith puts it, Fitz is always looking for a crisis so that he can have an excuse to start drinking. Juggling his own issues and the demands of solving crimes becomes Fitz's calling card in "Cracker".

So how did Fitz, a failing psychologist with more personal and family problems than the Queen, become a consultant for the Greater Manchester Police? To answer that question, let me describe a brief synopsis of each of the three stories on this DVD set.

The Mad Woman in the Attic
A serial killer is on the loose and he has killed two young women already. The latest victim, Jacqui Appleton, is a former student of Fitz's at a university in Manchester. Upon learning of her murder, Fitz offers his services to DCI David Bilborough (Christopher Eccleston)(DCI stands for Detective Chief Inspector), the officer in charge of the investigation. Bilborough is young and very eager to crack his first major case. Jacqui was killed on a moving train and an injured man (Adrian Dunbar) is later found lying beside the tracks. This man, struck by amnesia, becomes the main focus of the investigation and is subsequently fingered as the prime suspect in the murders. Bilborough reluctantly takes up Fitz's offer to help find the murderer when he needs a professional opinion to debunk the suspect's amnesia claim. Instead, Fitz comes to the conclusion that the man that they have in custody is not the murderer. Shut out from further participating in the investigation, Fitz desperately seeks out the help of DS Jane Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville) (DS stands for Detective Sergeant) to catch the real killer.

To Say I Love You
Fitz, arrested for disturbing the peace while trying to get his estranged wife, Judith to talk to him while she is staying at her father's house, is pulled in by DS Jimmy Beck (Lorcan Cranitch) to calm down a volatile young man, Sean (Andrew Tiernan), who was arrested for stealing a bus and taking it for a joyride. Sean suffers from severe stuttering and can only speak properly when he is angry or when he is singing. Despite Fitz's recommendation that Sean seeks professional help for his raging temper, he is instead released on probation. Together with a troubled young girl, Tina (Susan Lynch), the pair plans and murders a loan shark that has been hounding Tina. Later, our psychotic lovers become irrational and even more dangerous as the law enforcement net slowly close in.

One Day a Lemming Will Fly
When an effeminate 14-year old boy, Tim, is found strangled and hanging from a tree, the entire town is on edge as a child killer is loose in their midst. After Tim's English teacher, Mr. Cassidy (Christopher Fulford), is saved from an attempted suicide, he becomes Bilborough's prime suspect in the case, believing that his guilt from the crime drove him to try and kill himself. Fitz is brought in to comfort the grieving family and to evaluate and hopefully extract a confession from Cassidy. As Cassidy's life slowly unravels, suspicions of his closeted homosexual attraction to Tim become a motive for the crime. However, without realizing it, Fitz is coming up against his most difficult foe yet, one that can play mind games as well as our man Fitz.

Slotted in between these three cases are Fitz's efforts to work through his own failings and get his family back together again. Many might describe this benign storyline as a distraction from the real meat of the series but it actually accentuates Fitz's flawed character by giving him a vulnerability that contrasts totally with his confident crime-busting alter ego. Another chink in Fitz's armor comes in the form of DS Panhaligon, with whom he flirts at every opportunity. In fact, Fitz's seesaw relationship with Panhaligon serves as an interesting side story that gives the show a romantic angle that will keep fans guessing throughout the series.

Video:
Unfortunately, despite the laudable effort on the part of HBO Home Video to introduce this excellent British crime series to a new audience here in the U.S., very little has been done to clean up the video presentation for this DVD set. Featuring broadcast quality video, "Cracker: Series 1" looks less appealing than even some older television series that has been updated on the DVD format. The night scenes are especially grainy and harsh. "Cracker" is presented in its original full frame broadcast ratio of 1.33:1 without any optional subtitles. Considering the extensive use of British slang words and sometimes hard-to-understand accents, subtitles could have been useful.

Audio:
The audio is just as disappointing. Although stated as encoded in Dolby Surround 2.0, the audio sounds like something that comes out of a regular television broadcast. As the show is mainly dialogue-driven, the surround speakers are never utilized. One highlight though, is the show's use of obscure 80's British pop music hits throughout the series. Listen for Alison Moyet's "That Ole Devil Called Love" and Kirsty MacCall's "A New England". These songs really bring back some memories.

Extras:
Extras? What extras? Only a biography of Robbie Coltrane is included.

--Miscellaneous--
The packaging for this DVD set is quite unique. It is in a form of a book with very thick cardboard covers. Opening it will reveal Disc One on the left panel and Disc Three on the right. When you open panel holding Disc Three, Disc Two will be revealed. There are no snaps or any type of mechanism to hold the package shut, just the disc panels themselves fit into each other.

Film Value:
At its core, "Cracker" is a detective series in the same vein as the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. More of a thinking man's crime drama than an action-oriented show, I dare say that "Cracker" fits into the same mold as "CSI". Whereas "CSI" deals with the physical evidence, "Cracker" goes after the criminal's psyche. The character of Fitz might seem like an unlikely hero: overweight, drunk and with a nasty gambling habit. Fitz probably has more issues than some of his adversaries. However, this is exactly what makes the show tick. You have an anti-hero that the audience cares very much about, someone that many of us can empathize with. Robbie Coltrane's brilliant interpretation of McGovern's flawed hero, Fitz seems to put the screws on the rest of the cast but the principal actors deliver excellent performances that glue the show together. In fact, without the great work of the supporting cast, "Cracker" will never have achieved the success that it had in Britain.