Television
It's a cracker
Ian Hislop
When the trial of Colin Stagg for the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common collapsed, the man who had com- piled the psychological profile of the mur- derer was given a very bad press. The police had relied so heavily on his profile that they had pursued a suspect beyond the bounds of legality and ended up with a case so weak that the judge would not even let a jury consider it. The psychologist was heav- ily criticised. But he was not murdered. This was the fate of Professor Nolan in Cracker (ITV, Monday, 9.00 p.m.) who came up with the wrong profile for the killer of an Asian newsagent. The writer, Jimmy McGovern, seems to have anticipated the disillusion with the all-knowing psychological expert that the Stagg case precipitated, and incor- porated it into his script. And he has gone further than anyone else would. Not only did he have his characters telling us 'the professor is a prick' but the professor's so- called expertise led directly to his death. Nolan's theory that the murderer was white, unskilled, unemployed, football-sup- porting and a loner irritated the murderer a great deal since he was actually a skilled welder and a crossword-loving Guardian- reader. So after identifying a Mozart piano concerto on the professor's radio he stabbed him to death over the photocopier. At this point Dr Edward Fitzgerald, 'Fitz', appeared as the positive image of the psy- chologist. This is quite a feat since Fitz, played by Robbie Coltrane, is addicted to drinking, gambling and being a bastard to his wife. Yet he is the one who disagrees with the profile of the murderer and asks `Why if he was unemployed was he up at 7.30 a.m.?' The police have not asked this question yet and are instead fruitlessly rounding up skinheads who fit the descrip- tion that they have accepted. They are not up to Sherlock Holmes standards at the best of times but what Fitz has pointed out is the detectives' failure to detect anything. McGovern has effectively dramatised much of the debate about the correct balance of profiling and police skills that arose from the Stagg case.
This is serious stuff for an ITV thriller but it is just one element woven into the mix. Coltrane's performance is a triumph of arrogant charm but the writing of Crack- er is the key to its success. In one scene Fitz is in a urinal with two skinheads. He winds them up about what they are doing and how he wants to have a look over his urinal at them. He plays on their insecuri- ties and laughs at their posturing. The skin- heads turn nasty and one of them threatens to head-butt him and break his nose. But Fitz is a big angry man and you confidently expect the two skinheads to get thumped. But no. The scene cuts to Fitz mopping blood from his nose. He is not Clint East- wood. He is a fat alcoholic who smokes too much and who gets hit. And he is a loser.
The writing subverts expectations to great effect. Fitz returns home after gam- bling all night. His teenage son starts nag- ging him and asks where he has been. His wife, played superbly by Barbara Flynn, is however not angry but instead asks him into bed with her. Then Fitz reveals that he has actually won a load of money. The wife then does get furious with him. Gamblers who win occasionally are even less likely to give up than ones who always lose.
This was a great hour's television ruined only by the advertisements in between. No thanks at all then to Tom Conti, Nigel Hawthorne, Bob Hoskins and Angela Rip- pon for performing very badly indeed in pitifully weak scripts trying to sell some- thing or other. Also no thanks to one of the banks for putting the words 'Is that too much?' to the tune of 'It must be love' in a feeble borrowing of a song I used to like when when Madness did it.
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