Cracker (UK)

Cracker is a British police/crime show but with a twist. The lead character, Fitz (or Dr. Edward ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald) is a criminal psychologist that is hired by the Manchester police as a consultant. Fitz is a brilliant psychologist but as a man he has many vices (gambling, drinking, etc), has a somewhat failing marriage, and has a rather lazy son (and a young daughter whose character is not yet fixed). Fitz (Robbie Coltrane) mostly works with DS Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville), a young up-and-coming female detective, and sometimes with DS Jimmy Beck (Lorcan Cranitch), a detective of the old school methods.

Cracker aired in Britain from 1993-1995, plus one special in 1996 (24 episodes; a Granada Television production, as opposed to the BBC). There is a planned special rumored to appear in 2006. Cracker followed a different type of format. The 24 episodes actually consist of ten different stories. Each story-arc would last two to three episodes. There was also a series of novels based on the series, but those novels are now out of print (“The Mad Woman in the Attic” by Jim Mortimore, “Brotherly Love” by Jim Mortimore, “Men Should Weep” by Jim Mortimore - not sure if there are more novelizations out there).

An USA version of this show was attempted in 1997-1998, but only eleven episodes were aired on TV, (Robert Pastorelli played “Gerry ‘Fritz’ Fitzgerald on the USA Cracker; all sixteen episodes of the US Cracker are available on DVD).

Cracker returned for a one-time special on October 1, 2006.