How did you first get involved in Cracker?
I read a pilot script, which never actually got used, but I was really impressed with it. I thought it was beautifully written. I thought it was so much more than a typical whodunnit. It asked questions about how the murderer got to be the way he was, and why. In most cop shows, either the audience knows exactly what’s happened, and they just watch the central character getting to where they were at the start, or nobody knows anything, and you travel with the person to find out.
But Cracker is different?
In Cracker, you know what’s happened in the first two minutes. You know that somebody has murdered somebody, and you know who it is. But the way it works is that the audience gets a tremendous insight into how the human mind works psychologically. Sometimes in the press you see the headline, "Man murders 12 people" or something like that, and when you look at the picture and look in his eyes you wonder, "Would I have known?"
It’s been more than a decade since you last did Cracker. What was it like to reprise your character?
There’s a strong feeling of change throughout the drama, everything has moved on and Manchester has been rebuilt. Fitz has spent several years in Australia, his relationship with his wife has changed, he has a grandchild and a daughter who is about to get married. Fitz has been away from the crime scene for far too long.
How easy was it getting back into character?
It took 10 seconds. I wish I was as smart as he is, but I’m roughly the same size.
What was Fitz doing in Australia?
Jimmy and I have worked out that he’s probably been lecturing in universities, writing books and having a quiet academic life.
Has Fitz changed?
The character retains everything the character always had. It was a matter of finding a real crime that could be solved only by a psychological insight, the backbone of Cracker, the engine if you like. His relationship with Judith has definitely mellowed and they’ve developed a mutual tolerance until he decides to get involved in this case.
The psychology aspect of Cracker is fascinating. Is it something you subscribe to yourself?
Oh absolutely. You couldn’t do it otherwise. In Fitz it’s an art, people go on courses to learn some methodology to overcome the fact they don’t have an instinct for it.
What makes Fitz great to play?
Fitz is a wonderful character, essentially he’s not socially structured but intellectually structured. He doesn’t go to work to say the right things, he lives a proper officer’s life in the sense that he lives entirely on his talents and his instincts without any reference to social morals.
