"Actor: Colin Tierney"

• Cracker | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £49.99   |  Saving you £20.00 (40.01%)   |  RRP £69.99

  First screened in 1993, Jimmy McGovern's Cracker was at once a variation on a familiar theme and a daring new departure from the run-of-the-mill cop show. Robbie Coltrane's Fitz is an independent criminal psychologist called in by the police to help them crack intractable cases, usually involving grisly serial murders. But like its Granada TV stablemate Prime Suspect, Cracker also delves deep into the main characters' personal lives, revealing a chaos of emotional entanglements that become increasingly inseparable from their professional duties. Robbie Coltrane's charismatic presence dominates: the contrast between Fitz's professionalism and his complete inability to diagnose his own psychological failings provides much of the show's dramatic impetus. His frequent interrogations of murder suspects are tour de force demonstrations of coolly analytical method shot through with biting humour. But his drunken, intemperate behaviour towards his wife and everyone else is a telling contrast of extremes, and one that creates dangerous resentment among his colleagues. Coltrane is supported by a strong cast that includes Barbara Flynn, Geraldine Somerville, Lorcan Cranitch (as the terrifyingly unstable DS Jimmy Beck), Christopher Eccleston, and a pre-Royle Family Ricky Tomlinson. McGovern's screenplays balance gritty, Manchester-based realism with splendidly mordant wit, making Cracker simply riveting viewing. On the DVD: This complete Cracker 10-disc box set contains all three series that ran from 1993-95. The feature-length episodes are: "The Mad Woman in the Attic", "Say I Love You", "One Day a Lemming Will Fly" (Series 1); "Be a Somebody", "The Big Crunch", "Men Should Weep" (Series 2); "Brotherly Love", "Best Boys", "True Romance" (Series 3); "White Ghost" (1996 special). --Mark Walker

• Cracker - The Mad Woman In The Attic | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £11.84   |  Saving you £1.14 (12.88%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Fitz's two worlds collide when one of his students is brutally murdered on a moving train and the girl's grieving parents enlist him to help crack the case. The frenzied nature of the attack convinces the police that this is the work of the notorious 'Sweeney'. When an unconscious blood-soaked man is discovered close to the scene he becomes the prime suspect. Kelly (Adrian Dunbar) claims to be suffering from amnesia and Fitz is given the task of unlocking the dark recesses of his soul in a bid to find the truth.

• Cracker - To Say I Love You | DVD | (12/05/2003) from £10.95   |  Saving you £2.03 (25.50%)   |  RRP £9.99

  When a young man with a chronic speech impediment is caught by the police for joyriding Fitz is brought onto the case and recommends a psychological evaluation. However D.S. Beck releases the young man contrary to Fitz's advice and the violent murder of a loan shark in a dark alley marks the beginning of what Fitz considers to be a Bonnie & Clyde style killing spree. A volatile male personality with enough strength to murder a man with his bare hands and a female with the sexual chemistry to lure potential victims to their death. Fitz's success on the professional front contrasts with his own personal failings as the drink and gambling take their toll.