User reviews

It's been a decade since the last Cracker (the below par White Ghost) and 11 years since the last decent Cracker so expectations were high, but unfortunately Nine Eleven just did not deliver.

The two hour special was certainly controversial, raising issues about the US's financing of terrorism in the Middle East and in Northern Ireland that most TV dramas, certainly ITV dramas, would usually steer well clear of.

The problem was it just didn't feel like a Cracker episode, McGovern had things he wanted to say and just tacked Fitz onto an idea to make it more accessible to a wide audience. As always, McGovern's ideas were interesting but they just didn't work in this context, it felt rushed and would have benefited from being developed further, into a more rounded Cracker episode or maybe a separate project altogether.

The police were completely 2 dimensional, embarrassingly underwritten when compared to the likes of Beck, Wise, Penhaligan and Billborough, while Fitz really had very little to do - it seemed obvious that McGovern had grown tired of writing for this character, in contrast, he seemed to relish writing for Kenny, the killer, the only new character in this film who seemed at all believable.

Stylistically the production was also a failure. Flashing boxes flickered at the beginning of the programme and in and out of the breaks for no apparent reason - they looked horrible and distracted from the story! I can't believe anybody thought it was a good idea to sacrifice the classic white on black text of the original shows for these new graphics and text - if it isn't broke don't fix it! Cracker shouldn't be trying to emulate the style of Spooks and CSI - it was 10 times better than these shows in it's heyday!

And what was with all the flashbacks?? What worked so well in the original series is that Fitz would get into the head of the killer and we'd understand their motives through ACTING!

Did we have flashbacks to Hillsborough in To Be A Somebody? NO!

Did we have flashbacks to Floyd sitting in a bath of bleach in Men Should Weep? NO!

WHY? Because we didn't need them because the performances alone were strong enough for us to understand the motives of the killers. Flashbacks are usually a cheap devise used to reinforce a story when the writing isn't strong enough - and weren't necessary here. Anthony Flanagan's performance as Kenny was the stand out of the episode and the constant flashbacks to Ireland and the completely unnecessary 9-11 and Iraq news footage only distracted from the story.

Nine Eleven was something of a wasted opportunity, it had good elements - Fitz trying to fit into a very changed Manchester, a classic Cracker killer, and a controversial storyline - but this could have been so much better if supporting characters had been better written and the style and feel of the original series had been retained. On this evidence, I wouldn't want any more Cracker films in the future.

That its a welcome return is a given because Cracker was one of most accomplished, socially aware dramas of the last twenty years. ITVs decision to revive it also makes sense as the channel is in terminal decline. It hasn't just been ten years since we saw Fitz, its been almost as long since there was anything approaching intelligent, well written drama in ITV's prime time schedule.

The new episode is therefore gratefully received but with more than a little trepidation - after all later Cracker episodes not written by McGovern struggled to maintain the standard and Paul Abbot's White Ghost, the last special broadcast in 1995 suffered from taking Ftiz from his native Manchester stomping grounds and a dearth of fully rounded supporting characters. The good news is that Nine Eleven is better than White Ghost - the bad news is that it suffers from multiple creative lapses - entirely avoidable and somewhat ridiculous given the talent behind the camera.

In the first instance McGovern' script is really just a channel for his political views on post-911 American hypocrisy, particularly their reconstructed views on Terrorism. The points he makes via Kenny, the ex-Northern Ireland solider who snaps and kills an American stand up making flippant jokes about the War on Terror, are valid and come from an intellectually well-sourced left wing position. Just don't say Mcgovern's an apologist for Islamic Fascism. The problem is that the subtley that characterised the best of the series, by which we mean McGovern's other polemics, Albie in 'to be a somebody' the most memorable example, is absent from this new episode. Watching it is like being hit over the head for two hours. News footage from the wars in Afganistan and Iraq open the story, a misstep that seems out of touch with the more grounded tone of the original series. Then there's Fitz's uncharacteristic obsession with September 11th and this is before a single murder has taken place. When McGovern sticks to his characters he always succeeds but here most are mere cyphers channelling his political views. Those who aren't part of this agitprop are relegated to bit parts and two dimensions - the new Manchester police lacking the definition of the old supporting cast who lent so much weight to the proceedings and provide Fitz with much needed foils and contrasting intellects.

That isn't to say that the new episode is poor - its weighty, provocative stuff - at times uncomfortable and challenging like the best of the series. Whats lacking is the balance that existed in previous McGovern scripts, here replaced by a bombast that makes characterisation secondary. Ill-advised production touches like the new graphics and the new order score tend to detract from rather than enhance the action and the conclusion leaves you happy you've seen Fitz again but cheated that there was so little of him, if you'll pardon the expression - so dominated is the episode by the vengeful soldier with the murderous bent.

I hope this isn't the last Cracker, though its a more fitting epitaph than White Ghost - clearly McGovern needs isshoooes to compel him to write the bloody thing but if he can be motivated and surely there's plenty of cultural angst left to probe, and a crack team of writers can be drafted in to help out, then a new series could yet hit the heights of those classic stories. All in all Nine Eleven was a slight disappointment. If there are future episodes lets hope they retain the distance of previous stories and give us something more than a political lecture masquerading as a piece of a finely crafted police drama.

last nights episode of Cracker was a welcome return to a long lost friend. Robbie as ever played the role of Fitz to perfection. Not only did the plot revolve around current world issues but it was good to see that the subject of mental Health was also portrayed sensitively but with reality. While not all those with Mental Health problems will go the the extremes portrayed it helped to show that people with problem can and do successfully hold down full time jobs. it was an fictional representation that followed on well from the factual program screened by BBC2 earlier in the week "The secret Life of a manic Depressive" and while both programmes would appeal to different audiences and ages the message on this crucial area of health was the same. Congratulations to Jimmy Mcgovern and the team. Hope there will be another series soon - its been to long since we had drama of this quality

There are 3 great English series: Cracker, Prime Suspect and The Prisoner (with The Lakes a 4th). This latest movie is probably the best - the ending was one great piece of writing and simply devastating. Cracker was made to be Fitz and vice versa. Jimmy McGovern is just fantastic as usual - I wonder if they appreciate him in England. Likewise Prime Suspect is Helen Mirim's best work and Pat McGoohan will always be The Prisoner to me. I just caught a few episodes of The Lakes (can't find it anywhere) but it is worth a watch if you ever get a chance to see it. I have the older Cracker series and they are all fantastic - easy to watch more than once.

Great to see the big man back, though I felt an inward groan when I saw the theme. But Jimmy McGovern has improved with rage - no appeasing one small section of the suffering population by focusing on Asians. He went for the big picture and said EXACTLY what many people have been feeling for several years now about American money backing Northern Ireland, the myth of the Yanks winning WWII for the Allies, and the b.s. that is the war in Iraq. Some top acting from the leads plus the usual McGovern snappy intelligence in the writing made it essential viewing. Jimmy McGovern is our national treasure. His scripts make up for the oceans of bad clichés strangling uniform operas such as The Bill, Spooks, and every other indigo-coloured cop show bloating up our screens nowadays. Thank you! The one aberration he didn't have time to mention is the other grave crime that the Americans have yet to answer for: the butchery of Robbie Coltrane in the name of the US-produced abomination 'Fitz'.

For fans of the original Cracker nothing will ever measure up - how do you follow class acts like series 1 and 2? Answer - you can't really, times have moved on, no follow up can ever hope to have the same impact as the original and so it must be taken for what it is - a follow up which does its best to keep the feel of the original but which has to accept that, over a decade on, the country in which it is set has been through a lot of changes too.

Nevertheless this latest Cracker special isn't quite the abomination it's been made out to be, and I feel a lot of the criticisms aimed at it have missed the point.

It's true that the police are pretty characterless compared to old favourites like Bilborough, Penhaligon and Beck, but as opposed to being a criticism I see this as a clever comment on how PC has turned people in this country into cardboard cut outs scared of having a personality, especially in jobs where they have to deal with the public. Neutral, bland and nondescript, the attitude of our age is sharply observed as nobody wants to put their head on the block and be personally accountable for anything - passing the buck is the order of the day as they refuse to commit themselves to saying or doing anything that might come back on them later, accurately reflecting the paranoia of the modern workplace.

The anti-American sentiment is not as extreme as it could have been, but a few uncomfortable truths come out which I can see people being upset about. Too bad. To me this is not the writer projecting his political views onto the audience, as has been suggested, but that Cracker remains tough, topical and not scared to tell people the truth about themselves.

The plot could have been tighter in places and the coincidences it relied on are a little more obvious than in previous episodes, but not anything new in themselves. They've always been there in murder dramas, which by their nature are event driven.

Fitz is not as effective here which is a bit disappointing but is also more realistic than having the police bend the rules for him, which would have been out of the little character they have. He still manages to show his healthy disrespect for authority in small ways, like smoking in the police station, which I find just as entertaining as his more outspoken rants in earlier episodes. Times have changed and he's older. Robbie's performance has been called sleepwalking through the part but it could also be seen as Fitz being a lot more world weary since he is now in his 50s. As always, he is a joy to watch, and I can forgive a lot of the shortcomings of this episode to have him back.

To sum up, it's not Cracker at its best but it's not a disaster either. You could waste two hours on worse than this. In the modern day TV arena of the bland leading the bland, it still shines.

For those of you who've never heard of it (or seen it on A&E), Cracker is a brilliant British TV show about an overweight, chain-smoking, foulmouthed psychologist named Fitz who helps the Manchester police department get into the heads of violent criminals. It's considered to be one of the finest shows ever to come out of England (and that's saying something), and was tremendously successful in England and around the world back in 1993.

Now, the original stars have re-teamed with the original writer to knock out one more 2-hour episode. I've loved this show ever since I'd first seen it, over a decade ago. The DVD box set holds a place of honor in my collection, and I can quote a good deal of Fitz's interrogation scenes practically word for word. The idea of Robbie Coltrane reteaming with Jimmy McGovern for another TV movie about Fitz filled me with absolute glee.

I'll start with the good. One of the many things that impressed me about the original Cracker series was how quickly Fitz was defined as a character. Five minutes into the first episode – with his lecture (throwing the books into the air), his drinking, and his cussing of the guy after him on the gambling machine queue – and you knew, simply knew, who this character was. You could feel him "clicking" in your mind, the kind of click that only happens when a great actor gets a great role written by a great writer.

Coltrane, of course, remained great throughout the show, but I always felt that some of the later episodes – those not written by McGovern – mistreated the character.

So the good news is this: Fitz is back. As soon as you see him in this show – making incredibly inappropriate comments at his daughter's wedding – you'll feel that "click" once again. It's him: petulant one moment and truly sorry the next, always insightful, sincere to the point of tactlessness but brilliantly funny in the process. If you love this character as much as I do, you'll be delighted with how he is portrayed in the movie. And this extends to Judith and Mark: in fact, everything having to do with the Fitzs is handled perfectly.

The problem I do have with this movie revolves around the crime Fitz is trying to solve. In standard Cracker fashion, we know exactly who the criminal is in the first five minutes – the suspense lies in seeing Fitz figure it out. In this case, we have a serial killer who is out for American blood. And the reason for this, unfortunately, is not due to any believable psychological trauma – rather, it seems that the murders are here simply to allow the writer to display his personal political beliefs.

It's difficult for me to write this, as I truly believe that Jimmy McGovern is one of the greatest writers in the world. Nor do I have a problem with movies that are about current issues, or movies that take a political stand. But in the Cracker universe, we expect to see the characters behaving like human beings, not like caricatures. Instead, the Americans in this movie are all depicted in an entirely stereotypical fashion. They're know-nothing loudmouths who complain about everything, treat the locals like crap and cheat on their wives – one of them even manages to do all of the above within less than 5 minutes. I honestly thought I'd mistakenly switched channels or something.

But it doesn't stop there. We get constant reminders of just how badly the war in Iraq is going – reminders that have nothing whatsoever to do with the story and appear practically out of nowhere. The killer is so busy ranting about how Bush is worse than Hitler that he almost forgets to get on with the killing; but more to the point, he is such a mouthpiece for the writer's political views that he forgets to act like a believable human being, and thus we – as an audience – don't buy his sudden transformation from a happy family man to a tortured serial-killing soul.

I can't say that this ruined the show for me – it's was still good TV, better than almost everything else in the genre (mainly due to, once again, Coltrane). But its constant politicizing made it impossible for it to be as good as the real Cracker classics like "To Be A Somebody" – an episode that was just as "issuey", but one that was handled with far more subtlety and psychological depth.

Two other small points: Panhandle not being around is a disappointment, but what's worse are her replacements. The entire police department – which for so long filled with such great characters - is now full of vanilla. Completely interchangeable cops who lack any and all personality (how you could drain Coupling's Richard Coyle of personality is beyond me, but it is indeed missing here).

Also, there are couple of moments where the show lost its believability for me. One such instance revolves around Fitz having to narrow down the entire population of Manchester from 1 million to a hundred based on some very strange criteria (French windows? How does the computer know if I have French windows?) – he not only succeeds in doing this, but he succeeds in less than an hour. I don't think so.

So, all in all, I was a little disappointed. It's recommended viewing, but remember to leave at least some of your expectations at the door. Still, if there's new series to come after this, it would all have been for the good: I'm convinced that McGovern can still write great stuff, and maybe now that he's got his politics out of his system he can go back to writing about people.

It doesn't give me any pleasure reviewing this hugely disappointing 'Cracker' special "Nine Eleven". As somebody who considers 'Cracker' to be one of the best shows not just of its genre but ever, this reviewer was honestly expecting much more than this.

"Nine Eleven" is not a complete abomination. The best thing about it is the characterisation of the killer, a sinister but never one-dimensional and very much compellingly character worthy of being a classic 'Cracker' killer. He is brilliantly portrayed by Anthony Flannagan. Robbie Coltrane also does a great job as Fitz, he deserved much more to do but what there is of Fitz is enjoyable.

In fact, generally it is the acting that salvages "Nine Eleven" from being a complete waste. There is also some atmospheric scenery, and with a weighty and controversial idea this had real potential to be a classic 'Cracker' special.

So what stopped it from being so? The main problem is that it doesn't feel like 'Cracker'. The characters are nowhere near as intriguing, with Fitz being too much of a criminally underused supporting character in his own show and the police being shallow and underwritten with almost non-existent chemistry. The balance of writing and mastery of storytelling apparent in 'Cracker' at its best is not apparent here, apart from the odd bit of spark (but considering the calibre of the show it is far more deserving of having just the odd bit of sparkle).

One really misses the poignant emotion and dark, acerbic humour, which is replaced with too much of a heavy-handed and overused anti-American tone that comes over as far too preachy. Even the violence is not as unflinching. With a story-line as controversial potentially as it was on paper, what could have been weighty, harrowing and emotional stuff is spoilt by a lot of tedium, an overload of heavy-handedness and constant flashbacks and the whole Iraq stuff that only confused and padded out the story, not necessary really. The direction also lacks spark, and unusually mawkish, and there is nowhere near enough of the "whydunnit" psychology that made 'Cracker' so unique among other mystery/detective shows.

Visually, "Nine Eleven" is not much better, apart from some decent scenery, style, atmosphere and class is severely lacking with sometimes distractingly amateurish camera work and too dark lighting. The music can be intrusive and doesn't really add to the action or drama, instead taking away from it.

All in all, while a comeback of Fitz is always welcome he deserved better than this, which is not a good representation of why 'Cracker' is so brilliant. 4/10 Bethany Cox

The pleasure of seeing Robbie Coltrane as police psychologist Fitz probe a suspect's psyche is worth about three of the four points I gave his long-awaited return as "Cracker." But the heavy-handed production and mawkish direction drained all the sap out of what have should have been an exciting reunion. Since the thin plot clearly doesn't merit some two hours, the camera lingers on long, dull shots of angst-ridden characters mixed with time-killing news clips of the war in Iraq. Several contributors have pointed to the anti-American tone of the piece and true, the American characters (particularly one arrogant philandering victim) range from nasty to clueless. Fine, if the writer thinks we're all a bunch of clods, that's his privilege. But boring dialogue and an overdose of deus-ex-machina (the coincidental encounter of a criminal and a witness) is less excusable. I'd love to see Coltrane play Cracker again. But til someone comes up with a better script and a decent production, I'll settle for the Harry Potter series.

A major disappointment. This was one of the best UK crime drama / detective shows from the 90's which developed the fascinating title character played by Scotland's Robbie Coltrane. However this one-off has little to add and perhaps suffers from an inevitable let down due to raised expectations when a favored show returns after a long hiatus. Coltrane isn't really given much to do, much more attention is spent on the uninteresting killer, and in what he has to act in, he seems uninvolved, almost bored. The ex-soldier's story is written by the books and the attempt to update us on Coltrane's family life seems lightweight. Perhaps if the writers had a whole series in front of them instead of just this one two-hour show they would have written this with much more depth. As is, skip this and watch the old Cracker from the 90's which is far far superior.

In contrast to the glowing review given by the previous poster,the latest Cracker is a huge disappointment on many levels. Primarily the new episode fails due to its overt and blatant political stance. As with any great series, the strength of Cracker lies in its characters, and its focus on the genus of the series.. crime and mystery solving. In the case of this latest episode, Cracker as a character is almost non existent.. the lesser characters such as his wife and oldest son seen perhaps or a total of 5 minutes of screen time. Instead we are subjected to one hour and 45 minutes of flashbacks, an "ugly American" that could only come from a stereotype that is appalling in its obviousness, and President Bush's comments. Frankly, if I wanted to spend time watching a paid political commercial I could watch the CBS evening news. Secondly I would venture to guess that they offered Coltrane a pile of money to appear in this because not only does he appear ill at ease but the script seems thrown together in its disjointed execution. I would suspect that this episode will quickly disappear and hopefully be replaced by episodes that stick to a tried and true formula free of political jargon which insults the intelligence of American viewers as well as those in England who refuse to have a favorite series used as left wing political crap. In sum this episode was a HUGE let down. Bring back Penhaligon and the gang!

The social commentary was way overblown and the mystery itself is built and solved through a series of implausible coincidences that were entirely unbelievable. Nothing has changed in Fitz's personal life in the past decade that makes it remotely interesting.

I even had trouble understanding why he was complaining about his stay in Australia as compared to the opportunities to solve mysteries that he has in England. Can he not insinuate himself on the Australian police? It seems like a very artificial plot point to get him involved in a crime investigation.

The latter episodes of the original series were pretty melodramatic and implausible, sometimes bordering on silliness, and this one picks up that mantle rather than returning to the focus of series one. Sad.

Having heard so much about the 1990s Cracker series without seeing any of them, I looked forward to this eagerly. Surely the combination of Jimmie McGovern and Robbie Coltrane could not go wrong. How wrong I was!

The polemics, backed by frequent, repetitive and violent flashbacks, were overpowering. The production tried to be super-modern, but the flashing boxes and even the childish font irritated. Robbie Coltrane sleep-walked through the two hours, coming up with unexplained and unlikely "insights", and the police were portrayed as one-dimensional bumbling idiots. As a result, the tension never built up and the next-to-final scene (no details for fear of spoilers) was as laughably bad a piece of TV drama as I have seen for a long time.

No, I don't want to see any more of these, but I will go back to the DVDs of the 1990s series to see if they match their reputation.

I liked the first series of Cracker. It was refreshing, edgy, and the protagonist was the epitome of the word anti-hero. Fat, old, shamelessly addicted to his vices and completely oblivious to turning over a new leaf and being considerate to the feelings of others. The comedy was hilarious- especially his relationship with Penhaligon.

The second series started good but once the plot about Penhaligon being sexually assaulted was introduced that changed the tone of the series, for the worse and continued into series three where the stories were not very interesting. Also declining was the allure that Cracker himself once had. His sharp wit and keen intellect which he used to disarm his "victims," in this case the criminals, was starting to wear thin. Cracker would go through the motions like it was textbook and you knew that he had the criminal the moment they came into contact with each other.

So, the latest Cracker was no different. 10 years on, returning from his new home base of Australia, we find Fitz to still be the same person. Darwin's theory of evolution evidently does not apply to Fitz! Still cantankerous, bitter, over weight and unable to keep his fingers out of police business we see him try to take down a murderer who has no motive, or method to his madness.

The story itself was disappointing. The back drop of the Iraq war was not needed, but what was worse is that Fitz managed to twig the guy the moment he saw him, really saw him. After that it was just a matter of time. There was nothing interesting about this episode and the end, the final end, was depressing. Basically, the gap did little to improve Fitz and the end basically told us that. Unless the stories improve I really hope that there aren't any more Cracker series so that we're left with the warm memories of Series 1 to relive in the future.