Cracker: To Be A Somebody (1994)

Date(s) of Broadcast: 10 October 1994 - 24 October 1994
Number of Episodes: 3
Average Episode Running Times: 50 mins
Format: colour
Sound:

PRODUCTION
Production Company / Copyright: Granada Television
Executive Producer: Sally Head
Producer: Paul Abbott
Production Supervisor: Bill Leather
Production Manager: Des Hughes
Production Coordinator: Eileen Wood

SCRIPT
Script: Jimmy McGovern
Script Editors: Debbie Shewell, Roxy Spencer
Script Associate: Gwenda Bagshaw

DIRECTION
Director: Tim Fywell
1st Assistant: Peter Shaw
2nd Assistant: Jude Harrison

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Ivan Strasburg
Steadicam: Alf Tramontin
Clapper Loader: Mandy Moles
Focus Puller: Richard Brierley
Chargehand Electrician: David Ratcliffe
Grips: Bob Gregory, Peter Maghie

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Edward Mansell

MUSIC
Music: David Ferguson

SOUND
Sound Mixer: Phil Smith
Boom Mixer: Tony Cooper
Dubbing Mixer: Andrew Wyatt
Dubbing Editors: John Senior, John Rutherford

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up Supervisor: Helen King
Costume Designer: Jean Kelly

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Stephen Fineren
Art Director: David Butterworth
Production Buyer: Ron Pritchard
Graphic Designer: Phil Buckley

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Dorothy Friend
Chargehand ASM: Frank Massey
Forensic Slides Courtesy Of: CRC Press Inc
Sun Headline Courtesy Of: News Group Newspaper

LOCATIONS
Location Manager: Ken Mair

STUNTS
Stunt Coordinator: Peter Brayham

CASTING
Casting: Gail Stevens, Andy Pryor

CAST
PART ONE
Robert Carlyle (Albie)
Tracy Gillman (Jill Kinsella)
Gemma Phoenix (Ruth)
Robbie Coltrane (Fitz)
Dave Bond (factory supervisor)
Martin Pearson (factory worker)
Badi Uzzaman (Shahid Ali)
Kieran O'Brien (Mark)
Barbara Flynn (Judith)
Christopher Eccleston (Billborough)
Geraldine Somerville (Penhaligon)
Lorcan Cranitch (Beck)
Shango Baku (Gregson)
Wilbert Johnson (Skelton)
Colin Tierney (Harriman)
Paul Copley (pathologist)
Kim Vithana (Razia Ali)
Elaine Heywood (Mrs Ali)
Tony Barton (builder)
Mike Kelly (Peter Lloyd)
Marc Seymour (3rd skinhead)
Beth Goddard (Clare Moody)
Rebecca Clay (counter clerk)
John Capps (1st skinhead)
Ken Christiansen (2nd skinhead)
Tess Thomson (Katie Fitzgerald)
John Pickles (neighbour)
Peter Clifford (doctor)
Rosa Roberts (householder)
Glyn Grain (Professor Nolan)
Tricia Hitchcock (Mrs Nolan)

PART ONE
Christopher Eccleston (Billborough)
Edward Peel (Chief Superintendant)
Geraldine Somerville (Penhaligon)
Colin Tierney (Harriman)
Robert Carlyle (Albie)
Robbie Coltrane (Fitz)
Beth Goddard (Clare Moody)
Kim Vithana (Razia Ali)
Elaine Heywood (Mrs Ali)
Lorcan Cranitch (Beck)
Jon Huyton (barman)
Barbara Flynn (Judith)
Tess Thomson (Katie)
Tony Barton (builder)
Tony Peers (man in Albie's street)
Frankie Jordan (first woman)
Sandra Gough (second woman)
Gemma Phoenix (Ruth)
Tracy Gillman (Jill)
Kier O'Broen (Mark)
June Broughton (woman shopper)
Isobel Middleton (Catriona Bilborough)
Ryan Cooper (Baby Bilborough
Philip Childs (radio operator)

PART THREE
Christopher Eccleston (Billborough)
Geraldine Somerville (Penhaligon)
Robbie Coltrane (Fitz)
Edward Peel (Chief Superintendant)
Ricky Tomlinson (Wise)
Lorcan Cranitch (Beck)
Isobel Middleton (Catriona Bilborough)
Robert Carlyle (Albie)
John Henshaw (quarry foreman)
David Holt (hospital administrator)
Tracy Gillman (Jill)
Wilbert Johnson (Skelton)
Beth Goddard (Clare Moody)
Colin Tierney (Harriman)
Johnny Leeze (1st Manchester Utd fan)
Luke Scott Edwards (2nd Manchester Utd fan)
Kevin Quarmby (1st steward)

PLOT SUMMARY

A depressed young man, Albie, grieving the recent death of his father and still traumatised by the tragedy at the Hillsborough football stadium, snaps under the pressure and murders a Pakistani shopkeeper. A series of mistakes leads to a tragedy that's too close to home for Fitz and the police as Albie prepares his ultimate act of revenge...

Cracker's finest moments are to be found in this shattering and often unbearably moving three parter that found McGovern laying the groundwork of his interest in the appalling Hillsborough tragedy, later brought to fruition with the stunning and traumatic Hillsborough (1996). Robert Carlyle gives a devestating performance as Albie, the character who most clearly demonstrates the genius of McGovern's writing. He portrays his killers not as the mindless, unmotivated nutters we'd be used to seeing on US TV, but articulate and intelligent men and women, misguided and possibly insane, but certainly never mindless. Albie is a killer who can not only articulate his feelings and motivations but also has feelings - passions almost - that drive him to commit his acts of violence. Cracker is at its most subversive and dangerous here, inviting the audience to understand Albie's feelings if not condone them. The unexpected death of one of the leading characters is one of the most affecting scenes ever shot for British television.

1994
October
10: UK - part one television broadcast (on ITV)
17: UK - part two television broadcast (on ITV)
24: UK - part three television broadcast (on ITV)

MAGAZINES

TV Times 8-14 October 1994 pp.49, 51 (UK)
credits

KEYWORDS

alcoholism, forensic psychologists, police, psychologists, racism, revenge, serial killers

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008