It's a Cracker, albeit a deeply distressing one (Cracker - Men Should Weep (DVD))

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	Cracker - Men Should Weep (DVD)
Date:	20/01/08 (157 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb storyline and acting

Disadvantages: I found it distressing

There is a serial rapist at large, and the police, although reluctant to do so, are forced to call in Dr Eddie 'Fitz' Fitzgerald, a criminal psychologist, to help. The rapist is clearly au fait with police procedures and techniques because he forces his victims to wash before he allows them to go free. DS Jane Penhaligon, who is having an affair with Fitz, wants him to commit another crime so that he will have the opportunity to slip up - this comes all too true when Penhaligon herself is raped. But has she been raped by the same man? And will Fitz and the police be able to track the rapist down before it is too late?

Robbie Coltrane, as always, plays the role of Fitz with aplomb. Although a psychologist by trade and good at helping other people with their personal problems, he has a great deal of difficulty at managing his own personal life, and in this episode, which is the third of season two, his wife has left him and he is having a fated affair with DS Penhaligon. One of the things that I like best about Cracker is that the characters are always allowed to develop and watching Fitz struggle in his love for two women is really a pleasure. He is the man women love to hate, he drinks too much, smokes too much, eats too much, and has too much sex, but you can't help liking him at the same time. Coltrane gives an excellent and utterly convincing performance, aided and abetted by his long-suffering wife Judith (Barbara Flynn).

Excellent as he is though, Coltrane is outshone by his co-actors in this episode. Geraldine Somerville gives an outstanding performance as Jane Penhaligon, particularly when she is raped and suffering from the fall-out. The fact that she went from working with rape victims to being one herself makes her performance all the stronger and I was utterly convinced that I was watching a woman who really had been raped. Another outstanding performance comes from Lorcan Cranitch, who plays DS Jimmy Beck. A sexist, racist pig of a man, it is easy to hate him - but just as he had me seething with anger, we are given a chance to see another side to him and, although his behaviour is unforgiveable, it is much more understandable. Superb.

The rapist is played by Graham Aggrey. I found his performance deeply uncomfortable and disturbing, testament I think to a fantastic performance. I watch (and read) and lot of crime fiction, and have become sadly blase about watching even the most heinous of crimes. In this case though, my skin crawled whilst feeling some sympathy for his behaviour - Aggrey is all too convincing as a serial rapist.

I also have to mention Ricky Tomlinson as DCI Wise. Although he is sidelined by his sergeants, he does play a balancing role in the team and is therefore important to the case. And I forgot he was Ricky Tomlinson for a while too - not all that easy to do these days.

Jimmy McGovern wrote this episode of Cracker, as indeed he wrote many of the other episodes. He certainly came up with an excellent screenplay this time. He employs a 'Columbo'-style tactic of revealing the identity of the serial rapist to the audience from the beginning, thereby creating huge suspense as the audience are forced to watch the police and Fitz bounce from one clue to another without finding the rapist. The pace starts off at a cracking pace with the rape of a woman and then bounds from disaster to disaster, leaving me at least almost breathless. Despite the fact that the episode is a whopping 149 minutes, I watched it all in one go, simply because there are few moments whereby it is convenient to stop. The lines come thick and fast - as with most of McGovern's screenplays, there is a lot of violence and anger, but also a fair amount of humour, particularly for Coltrane.

What I was most impressed by (and what may put many off) is the fact that the storyline is so realistic - to the extent that I found myself crying with distress at times. Perhaps it is because rape is such an emotive issue for a woman, but I think it is also that it is just so damn real. Although we see very little of the actual attacks - they are generally a whirl of shots, cleverly made to seem as if the viewer is seeing the scene through the victim's eyes - I could really feel the fear and pain of the victims, which is down to a combination of good acting and excellent direction on the part of Jean Stewart. This is one episode of Cracker that I will not forget in a hurry. Anyone who has seen Cracker before will know what to expect - gritty realism - but for those who want to escape from reality, this is not for you.

As often seems to happen with series that are released episode by episode, there are no real extras on this DVD - just scene selection and subtitles. Although I rarely watch extras, I would have liked some explanation of how this episode was made - the realism makes me think that some in-depth research must have been involved in order to put it together and I would have liked to know more. However, that is a minor disadvantage that doesn't stop me from highly recommending this DVD.

This is British TV at its best; the combination of Jimmy McGovern, Robbie Coltrane, Lorcan Cranitch and Geraldine Somerville make sure of that. I thought that I had already seen the best of Cracker, but I haven't because this is it. If the few episodes that I haven't yet seen are anything like as good as this, I can't wait to see them. Highly recommended.

The DVD is available from play.com for £9.99 (but still worth it).

Classification: 18

Running time: 149 minutes

Summary: Excellent drama