Let me help you discover some of the best UK telly ever made,
CRACKER
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDet ... sku=841569£18 for the whole lot from hmv.com.
I must confess I bought this boxset on one of my occasional 'let's do some online shopping whilst a bit too pissed and get whimsical/nostalgic about something and rashly purchase it' evenings - (the same session also yielded up a Complete 60 DVD X-Files boxset, which I haven't watched a single episode of yet, along with a Complete Blackadder boxset and a Complete Bottom boxset, also both unwatched).*
Cracker got on the list because I noticed it had been filmed in Manchester at the same time I was a student there, other than that, I basically knew nothing about it and had no real idea what its general vibe was, except that Robbie Coltrane is in it (I was 'aware' of it during its original run in the 90s, but never saw any of it).
Anyway, I put the first episode on a few weeks ago, not really expecting much, and quite frankly, was absolutely blown away. I've watched series 1 and 2 all the way through now so can properly recommend it, rather than jumping the gun and then discovering it gets shit later on. (It's possible that Series 3 goes to crap I suppose, but I very much doubt it.)
I won't bother paraphrasing information that's already out there, the Wikipedia page and this unofficial site do a reasonable job:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_%28UK_TV_series%29http://www.crackertv.co.uk/Overall it's the kind of show that I just can't imagine would get made these days, some of themes and issues it explores are incredibly dark and very 'un-PC', often quite uncompromisingly so, in particular, the line between Fitz (Coltrane's character) and the criminals he deals with is quite deliberately blurred (the police aren't exactly made to look like angels either).
Each 'episode' would I assume have run for several weeks on telly, as they can be as long as two and a half hours, so loads of time to properly explore the characters and their motivations and what's generally going on, none of that stupid 'run for the finish' feel that, for example, House often has.
I won't bang on about it too much, you'll probably already know if it's the 'kind of thing you might like' or not, but I would emphasise just
how fucking well written and acted it is - at it's best I'd honestly say it's as good as anything I've ever watched, be it telly or film. (The episode with Robert Carlyle playing the 'baddie' reaches amazing heights of brilliance.)
It does have an extra element of interest to me and MrsAE 'cause we can play the 'spotting Manchester landmarks of the early 90s' game, but that's entirely optional. MrsAE remembers that on one of the shoots across from her halls of residence, one of the students from her halls shouted 'YOU FAT BASTARD' at Coltrane, to which he responded, 'Ahhhh, an
art student I presume.'
*
(The absolute nadir of this habit was a few years ago now, when I ordered the entire Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne back catalogue, because I had some vaguely good memories of playing air guitar to Mr Crowley as a teenager with my mates whilst pissed up on spritzers stolen from M&S, before one of us did a dramatic jump against his bedroom wall, only to go straight through it 'cause it was made of plasterboard as tends to be the case in modern houses. Fortunately when I woke in the morning the order was still at the 'processing' stage, so I cancelled all £220 worth of it )