Who Wrote The Cracker Series?

The ten episodes of "Cracker" were written by Jimmy McGovern with input from Ted Whitehead and Paul Abbott. McGovern clearly aimed to do more than write a detective series. He used the source novels as vehicles for a bleak and powerful vision of 1990s Britain. The Britain depicted is a place of serial killers and brooding psychopaths, where apparently ordinary people turn out to harbour murderous fantasies. In one episode starring Robert Carlyle, for instance, a series of racist murders are committed by a Guardian reader of formerly liberal views, whom the police don't dream of suspecting. As the series progressed, McGovern sprang more and more surprises on the viewers. In one episode, Sgt Penhaligon (Geraldine Somerville), Fitz's assistant and lover, is raped – as it turns out, by a fellow officer. In another, the Chief Inspector, a major character played by Christopher Eccleston, is killed.
A further Cracker episode was screened in 2006. Topical as ever, this drama was concerned with the Iraq war and its effects. However, it did not receive the critical acclaim of earlier episodes.