Really? That seems convoluted! Why?

Dear God, woman! Because! Because it's always been that way! The UK common law needs no greater reason.

Nutty - have you read the original Homicide book? There's fantastic sequence where Simon explains that there are no circumstances whatsoever where waiving your right of silence isn't a dumb-ass move.

And you're watching Cracker? Which one? It may be my favourite ever UK show. To Be a Somebody teaches you more about Britain in the '80s than any 10 history books. Plus it was an amazing school - Ecclestone, Carlisle, Morton, Boyle...

There were 2 on. The first one was the one where the murderess is trying to get to Fitz and has his son. The second one was was "The mad woman in the attic" which seems to be the first ep.

OK, the first one is actually the last one (we don't talk about the ddgy Hong Kong one-off - no Panhandle!). Still great. But it's the second season and the first half of S3, with the whole Beck/Penhaligon arc, that's absolutely brilliant.

So the second one they aired was the very first episode?

If so, I may never be able to leave my house between 1 and 3 again.

Oh! I remember Cracker -- it aired here on A & E, and then there was a pale USian copy that flunked out on a big network. The original with Robbie Coltrane was so much better.

Nutty - have you read the original Homicide book?

Have I read? My fandom goes both deep and wide. It's an entertaining book, and a little creepy to read if you pick it up after having seen and known the TV series for years.

Oh, I loved Cracker. The remake was deadly, though.

Heh. Funniest part of the finale of the series for many Baltimorans (I think it was the finale): two detectives eating their way through Little Italy and Fells Point, IIRC. For locals it was neat how true they stayed to the actual geography and neighborhoods of the city,

I think it was the finale

Either that or the movie.

So far? My own take is that the original Cracker and H:LOTS were the tw best cop-shows ever. Of course, I'l still waiting to see "The Bill" and it comes highly recced.

The one that made it final final. A couple years ago.

For locals it was neat how true they stayed to the actual geography and neighborhoods of the city,

My aunt lives in Baltimore, and watched the show faithfully, like the evening news. She reports that the only time the geography or proper names were ever wrong was the name of the school in the Jerry Uba episode. (The one with the pet pig.) She said it was probably because the school didn't want its name associated with hostages and violence, not a mistake on the writers' part.

This is the "police force" that used to shoot on the streets of Baltimore, and a fleeing purse-snatcher tried to surrender to the cast one day between shots. The real cops showed up in hot pursuit a few minutes later, and laffed and laffed at the poor dumb actors.