| | Cracker - The Mad Woman In The Attic / To Say I Love You [1993] |  | Directors: Michael Winterbottom, Jean Stewart (iii), Charles Mcdougall, Julian Jarrold, Simon Cellan Jones
Actors: Ian Mercer, Amelia Bullmore
Studio: Granada Media
Category: Video
List Price: £14.99
Buy Used: £6.96
You Save: £8.03 (54%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 20449
Format: Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
Media: VHS Tape
Running Time: 252 minutes
Number Of Items: 2
Discs: 1
EAN: 5024165868577
ASIN: B00004D2XL
Release Date: January 17, 2000
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: This video box set is in EXCELLENT condition!!! We post the SAME DAY or if that is not possible the VERY NEXT working day!!!
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| Customer Reviews:
Sheer brilliance January 24, 2003
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
People who judge books by their covers might initially believe that Cracker is just another in a long line of British cop shows, such as Morse or A Touch of Frost. However, there is one big difference, and that is that Cracker is a psychological drama AND a cop show. Occasionally your run-of-the-mill cop show will do a "Silence of the Lambs" type story, but too often it will look cliched and will not sit comfortably with what many people enjoy purely as "cosy, armchair television". Cracker is anything but "cosy, armchair television". It has the humour, but it gets inside your head, so that once you've viewed an episode, it does not immediately disappear from memory; it stays there and you are left sometimes wondering about whether there is actually any goodness left in the world.
"The Mad Woman in the Attic" and "To Say I Love You" are two such stories. "Mad Woman" was landed with the often difficult task of introducing the characters convincingly while also telling a decent story. Thankfully, due to Jimmy McGovern's flawless writing, this is no problem. The first thing we see is Dr. Edward Fitzgerald (Robbie Coltrane) or "Fitz" in a telephone booth, listening to the races, smoking and shouting things like "come on!" and "yes!" down the line. Automatically, we get an idea of Fitz's character. He is chain-smoking and a gambler and, as we learn later, an alcoholic.
He is also a criminal psychologist. This is the simple genious of Cracker, along with Fitz's character. A quiet, reserved psychologist is often bad enough, but a loud, brash psychologist is even worse. Fitz is not afraid to say what he thinks (or should I say what he knows?) because he understands human nature and thinks that other people should stop deluding themselves and accept the simple truths about life.
Does Fitz's view work? Well, you have to take one look at his family to see that it doesn't it. Almost as soon as the episode starts, Fitz's wife Judith (Barbara Flynn) leaves him, taking his eight year-old daughter, which leaves him with his teenage son Mark, who lies around doing nothing all day, stinking the place out with his feet.
Fitz lectures at a University, and when one of his students is brutally murdered by a serial killer known as "the Sweeney", his life changes dramatically. He goes to the Manchester Police Force and offers them a profile of the Sweeney. "I'm good, and I'll catch him," he assures the father of the dead girl.
Well, in the end, he does. But the main story centres around that of "Kelly" (Adrian Dunbar), a man who is found lying near a railway track (the student was murdered on a train), covered in the girl's blood. He claims he has amnesia, caused by his fall from the train, and so Fitz tries to crack him into confessing. It is at this point that we are introduced to the wonderful, almost poetic interrogation scenes that embody what Cracker is about. In these scenes, Fitz will zero in on a character's heart and tell them a few home truths about themselves which will shock them into cracking. These truths are often harrowing and emotionally-draining, but only occasionally are they completely successful.
The interesting twist in "Mad Woman" (especially interesting considering it is the first in the series) is that Kelly has no memory, and so Fitz has nothing whatsoever to zero in on. He can do more than simply reel off his profile of the actual Sweeney to him, and hope that it strikes a chord with Kelly. When that fails, Fitz turns on his new favourite police officer, D.S. Jane Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville), knowing that she is a "victim", just like all the other women the Sweeney has killed.
Anyone reading this may think that I have ruined the story for them, but that is not the point. What makes Cracker so ultimately wonderful is how sometimes the storyline involving the hunt for a criminal gets pushed out of the way by the storylines of the characters. Unlike many standard cop shows, this one actually centres on characters other than the main one and his sidekick. Okay, so in "Mad Woman" is has to centre on Fitz and Penhaligon, otherwise it would just be a mess, but as the series progresses we see more and more of the police officers working with Fitz, and glimpse more and more into their lives. The primary case is D.S. Jimmy Beck (Lorcan Cranitch), although he plays a relatively minor part in "Mad Woman".
"To Say I Love You" is another example of television at its best. Like many of the subsequent Crackers, it makes it possible for us to feel sympathy (or perhaps it is pity) for the criminals, no matter how diabolical their actions, and at the same time we cannot wait to see Fitz dissect them in the interrogation scenes.
Sean (Andrew Tiernan), a karaoke singer with an awful stutter, meets Tina (Susan Lynch) in a bar, and they fall in love. Tina is in debt with a criminal, and she convinces Sean to kill him. The brutal manner of the killing draws immediate attention to the case, and Fitz is brought along to profile the killer. What he doesn't realize at first is that he has already met Sean when the boy was arrested for joy-riding a minibus. Against Fitz's advice, Jimmy Beck let him go.
A few may be put off by the length of this episode, but it really drags you into it, because the time allows you to be completely immersed in the world of these characters, and to care about them.
The success of Cracker lies in Jimmy McGovern's writing. Quite simply, it is in a class of its own. Not a single line is unconvincing, and subsequently we begin to see the characters as real rather than just cliches. Of course, the brilliant performances all round also have something to do with it. Robbie Coltrane deserves most of the credit, brilliantly getting across how Fitz is a terribly flawed person, but has a heart in the right place.
Standout scenes (obviously barring the superlative interrogation scenes) in "Mad Woman" are Fitz terrorizing a group of friends at a dinner party while drunk, and also a brilliant cameo by Don Henderson as the father of the Sweeney, which lasts for barely more than three minutes but remains so convincing you'd be sure it was real.
As for "To Say I Love You", almost every scene is standout, although my favourites have to be Fitz taking Penhaligon to the same restaurant as his wife and her new lover, and also Tina confronting her parents before she goes to prison.
Watch it and be amazed!
Just Pure Genius...They Dont Make Them Like This Anymore July 3, 2000
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Mad Woman in the Attic - a Classic tale of how you are innocent until proven guilty, even though all the evidence is stacked against you. A good episode where you are led to beleive the guilt of the prime suspect all the way through. Fitz is very keen to be involved as he knew the unfortunate victim and basically begs the police to be involved - it his insight into the criminal mind which ensures that justice is done.To Say I Love You - is definitely up there in my Top 3 of all Cracker episodes. The story tells the strength of love and devotion between two unlucky misfits....him with a frustrating speech impediment, her with a family she would rather disown. Their love affair leads to lies, murders, and kidnapping - all believed by the pair to be romantic expressions of their love for one another. Disturbing brilliance. A great performance by Fitz's forever patient wife Judith (Barbara Flynn) and the girlfriend-in-waiting (Gerladine Somerville) - and look out for a Coronation street regular in a very early role.
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