Robbie Coltrane Returns in Cracker: A New Terror
“Great characters never die… Robbie Coltrane returns to the role he made larger than life, in many ways.” New York Times
The multi award-winning crime drama, Cracker, returns with a hard-hitting, topical storyline set in the post 9/11 world, starring Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter, GoldenEye, Ocean’s Twelve) as criminal psychologist Dr. Edward ‘Fitz’ Fitzgerald. When an American is killed in a Manchester comedy club Fitz sets out on a murder investigation rooted in global terrorism, the conflict in Northern Ireland and one man’s inner demons. Cracker: A New Terror premieres Monday, October 30 at 9:00 p.m. ET, 10:00 p.m. PT.
Fitz and his wife Judith (Barbara Flynn, The Forsyte Saga, Hornblower) return to the UK from Australia – where they have been living for the past 10 years – for their daughter’s wedding.
That evening, as Fitz gets re-acquainted with family and the city of Manchester, elsewhere, Kenny (Anthony Flanagan, Shameless), a troubled ex-soldier turned cop, is hitting the bars on a destructive drinking spree. Tormented by his experiences as a British solder in Northern Ireland, Kenny is haunted by the ghosts of his comrades and feels their deaths are seen as insignificant since 9/11 and the War on Terror.
Later that night he finds himself at a crowded comedy club where a young American is delivering a politically charged routine that finally makes Kenny snap. At the end of the act he follows the comic into a downstairs bathroom and clinically murders him.
With police questioning and background checks on the audience at the club failing to produce any major leads, and with intense media scrutiny growing, the police are under increasing pressure to get results. Furthermore, it emerges the victim’s mother is associated with a highly connected American, Harry Peters (Demetri Goritsas, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, The Bourne Identity) with the power to pull strings in high places.
In a bid to turn the investigation around the police call on Fitz who leaps at the chance to prove he’s still got what it takes to get inside the mind of a killer. With his help, detectives deduce that there was another person in the bathroom who was certainly the last to see the victim alive.
As Fitz begins work on the investigation, the stakes continue to rise as the killer strikes for a second time – this time the victim is Harry Peters. As Fitz builds a profile of the killer, he becomes increasingly suspicious of Kenny – a policeman in the very squad investigating the murder. In an emotionally powerful interrogation, Fitz uses his most provocative tactics to crack Kenny, forcing him to confront his inner demons, deep sense of loss for his buddies killed in action and simmering resentment towards the War on Terror for rendering the loss of life in Northern Ireland insignificant.
Writer Jimmy McGovern says: “Robbie had always been keen to do another Cracker and I just needed to find a good story. Years of research in Northern Ireland for Sunday, made me think about things I had never thought of before. I was the child of an imperial power in a part of the world that had been devastated by that power. I realized that it’s easy to be Irish and patriotic – you’ve been suppressed by the British for years. But being British, how do you deal with being part of that oppression and colonialism.
“When 9/11 happened, the American funding for the IRA dried up which meant that 30 years of war in Northern Ireland was suddenly forgotten. When the world’s attention moved from Northern Ireland to Afghanistan and Iraq, many of the British soldiers who died and fought in Northern Ireland wondered what they’d fought for.”
Cracker: A New Terror also stars Richard Coyle (The Libertine, Coupling), Lisa Eichhorn (The Talented Mr. Ripley, King Of The Hill, Law & Order), Leo Gregory (Stoned), Kieran O’Brien (Band Of Brothers) and Nisha Nayar (In America, Doctor Who).
A director’s cut of Cracker: A New Terror will premiere on BBC America On Demand on Monday, October 30 at midnight. It will be available on Comcast and Time Warner.
For up-to-the-minute information on BBC AMERICA, forthcoming U.S. premieres, art work and news from the channel, log on to www.press.bbcamerica.com.
Cast And Production Credits
Fitz Robbie Coltrane
Kenny Archer Anthony Flanagan
Katy Fitzgerald Stefanie Willmore
Elaine Archer Andrea Lowe
Judith Fitzgerald Barbara Flynn
Detective Saffron Saleh Nisha Nayar
Daniel Archer Joel Davies
Amy Archer Charlotte Forsyth
Jake Archer Nathan Tunnah
Detective Walters Richard Coyle
Detective McAllister Rafe Spall
Mr. Thorpe Andrew Norris
Jean Molloy Lisa Eichhorn
Harry Peters Demetri Goritsas
Writer Jimmy McGovern
Director Antonia Bird
Producer John Chapman
Executive Producer Andy Harries
Robbie Coltrane
Robbie Coltrane is one of the UK’s leading stars of television, film and theater. Following five successful years in live theater, Robbie made an early impact on British television’s fast-developing alternative comedy scene of the early ’80s. His credits include 13 star appearances in the cult Comic Strip productions and he was awarded the Peter Sellers Award For Comedy at the 1991 Evening Standard British Film Awards for his contribution to film comedy and for Nuns On The Run.
As a straight actor, Robbie earned his first BAFTA nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Danny McGlone in UK television’s Tutti Futti. Robbie’s towering performance in Cracker has helped earn the series numerous awards including two Bafta Best Drama Series Awards and a Royal Television Society Award for Best Drama. Robbie’s portrayal of Fitz has been recognized with three Bafta Awards for Best Television Actor in three consecutive years, a Silver Nymph Award for Best Actor from the 1994 Monte Carlo Television Festival, Best Television Actor at the 1993 Broadcasting Press Guilds Awards, Royal Television Society’s 1994 Award For Best Male Performer, Fipa’s Best Actor Award and A Cable Ace Award for Best Actor In A Movie or Mini-Series. His other television roles include appearances in The Planman and the final episode of Frazier.
Robbie’s prolific career also spans some 44 films, including Nuns On The Run, Golden Eye, The World Is Not Enough, From Hell, Ocean’s 12 and Harry Potter.
Jimmy Mcgovern
Creator and writer of Cracker, Jimmy McGovern, is regarded as one of the most important TV and film writers to emerge from Britain in the past 20 years, and is known for creating challenging, thought-provoking and award-winning dramas.
In addition to eleven episodes of the internationally-acclaimed and multi-award-winning Cracker, he has written feature films Liam and Priest, as well as The Street, Hillsborough and Sunday for television.
