Cracker: Best Boys (1995)

Date(s) of Broadcast: 6 - 13 November 1995
Number of Episodes: 2
Average Episode Running Times: 50 mins
Format: colour
Sound: Doly Surround

PRODUCTION
Production Company / Copyright: Granada Television
Production Executive: Craig McNeil
Executive Producer: Gub Neal
Producer: Hilary Bevan Jones
Production Supervisor: Bill Leather
Production Manager: Des Hughes
Production Coordinator: Tracy Lee

SCRIPT
Script: Paul Abbott
Script Associate: Catriona McKenzie
Series Created By: Jimmy McGovern

DIRECTION
Director: Charles McDougall
1st Assistant Director: Peter Shaw
2nd Assistant: Jude Harrison

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Dick Dodd
Camera Operator: Mike Miller
Clapper Loader: Mandy Moles
Focus Puller: Richard Brierley
Lighting Gaffer: David Ratcliffe
Grips: Mike Fisher, Gary Stanton

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Tony Cranstoun
Colourist: Neil Parker

MUSIC
Music: Rick Wentworth

SOUND
Sound Mixer: Phil Smith
Boom Mixer: Tony Cooper
Dubbing Mixer: John Whitworth
Dubbing Editors: John Senior, Mark Briscoe

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Supervisor: Anastasia Shirley
Make Up Assistant: Sally O'Loughlin
Costume Designer: Tudor George
Wardrobe Supervisor: Michael Richards

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Stephen Fineren
Art Director: Bill Crutcher
Production Buyer: Ron Pritchard
Prop Master: Vic Shirovay
Standby Painter: Mike McIntyre
Graphic Designer: Phil Buckley

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Sue Wild
Chargehand ASM: Tommy Lyons
Medical Advice: Jason Payne-James
Script Research: John Stretch

LOCATIONS
Location Manager: Sue de Beauvoir

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks To: Manchester Arndale Centre Management

CASTING
Casting: Marilyn Johnson

STUNTS
Stunt Coordinator: Terry Forrestal (part two only)

CAST
PART ONE
John Simm (Bill)
Susie Yannis (Linda)
Liam Cunningham (Grady)
Geraldine Somerville (Penhaligon)
Robert Cavanah (Temple)
Wilbert Johnson (Skelton)
Robbie Coltrane (Fitz)
Ricky Tomlinson (Wise)
Aisling O'Sullivan (Aileen)
Barbara Flynn (Judith Fitzgerald)
Jackie Downey (Mrs Franklin)
David Hill (Mr Franklin)
Carla Richee (Gloria)
Will Knightley (pathologist)
Steve Money (Cutter)
Annette Ekblom (Diane Nash)
John Langford (Brian Nash)
Anthony Lewis (Steven Nash)
Dominic Rigby (Philip Nash)
Edward Peel (Chief Super)
Kieran O'Brien (Mark)
Clive Russell (Danny)
Paul Barber (Ian McVerry)

PART TWO
Liam Cunningham (Grady)
John Simm (Bill)
Robbie Coltrane (Fitz)
Wilbert Johnson (Skelton)
Geraldine Somerville (Penhaligon)
Robert Cavanah (Temple)
Ricky Tomlinson (Wise)
Will Knightley (pathologist)
Jane Weldon (Janet Emery)
Annette Ekblom (Diane Nash)
John Langford (Brian Nash)
Anthony Lewis (Steven Nash)
Dominic Rigby (Philip Nash)
Jim Whelan (foreman)
David Hill (Mr Franklin)
Carla Richee (Gloria)
Barbara Flynn (Judith Fitzgerald)
Clive Russell (Danny)

PLOT SUMMARY

A landlady and a social worker are murdered by a man and his teenage gay lover. As he tries to find the couple before they can strike again, he has to deal once again with the fact that his marriage is on the rocks.

As was so often the way, the stories not written by McGovern seemed to pale by comparison, and so it is with Best Boys. Abbott is no slouch when it comes to dialogue and character, but he fails to sharpen the edge quite like McGovern, with the consequence that Best Boys is a finely crafted tale, but not one of the best.

1995
November
6: UK - part one television broadcast (on ITV)
13:UK - part two television broadcast (on ITV)

KEYWORDS

alcoholism, forensic psychologists, homosexuality, police, psychologists, serial killers, social workers

Last Updated: 1 January, 2009