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Cracker (British TV Series)
''Cracker'' is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV, created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. Set in Manchester, the series follows a criminal psychologist (or "cracker"), Dr Edward "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane, who works with the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) to help them solve crimes. The show consists of three series, originally broadcast from 1993 to 1995. A 100-minute special set in Hong Kong followed in 1996 and another two-hour story in 2006. The show won the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series in 1995 and 1996, and Coltrane received the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor in three consecutive years (1994 to 1996). Overview Fitz is Scottish of Irish origin, alcoholic, a chain smoker, obese, sedentary, addicted to gambling, manic, foul-mouthed and sarcastic, yet cerebral and brilliant. He is a genius in his speciality: criminal psychology. As Fitz confesses in "Brotherly Lov ...
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Jimmy McGovern
James Stanley McGovern (born September 1949) is an English screenwriter and producer. He is best known for creating the drama series '' Cracker'' (1993–1995), for which he received two Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America. He also received recognition for creating drama series such as '' Hillsborough'', '' The Lakes'', '' The Street'', and '' Accused'', among others. On 8 December 2021, McGovern was awarded the Freedom of The City of Liverpool in recognition of his life's work. Early life McGovern was born in Liverpool in September 1949, the son of working-class parents Jane (née Warner) and William McGovern. He was the fifth of nine children. He has a stammer, for which he received no therapy and which affects him still. Brought up a Catholic, he attended St Francis Xavier's College which moved to the Woolton suburb of Liverpool in 1961. Career Television In 1982, McGovern started his TV career working on Channel 4's soap opera '' Brookside''. He tackled man ...
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British Academy Television Award For Best Drama Series
The British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series is one of the major categories of the British Academy Television Awards (BAFTAs), the primary awards ceremony of the British television industry. The category is described on the official BAFTA website as being open a drama series "of between two and 19 episodes, that is intended to return." The category has been through several name and category changes: * From 1958 to 1972 the award was presented usually individually under the name "Best Drama Production". * Also during the same period another category was awarded briefly as "Best Drama Series" from 1964 to 1970. * Then from 1970 to 1991 it was joined with drama serials into a category named "Best Drama Series or Serial" with the exception of the years 87, 88 and 89 where it was awarded just as "Best Drama Series". From 1992 onwards, the category was split in two, with a separate Best Drama Serial category also established. ''Inspector Morse'', '' Cracker'', '' The Co ...
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Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon (; 19 October 1940 – 27 September 2023) was an Irish-English actor. Gambon started his acting career with Laurence Olivier as one of the original members of the Royal National Theatre. Over his six-decade-long career, he received three Olivier Awards, four BAFTA TV Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 1998, he was Knight Bachelor, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama. Gambon appeared in many productions of works by William Shakespeare such as ''Othello'', ''Hamlet'', ''Macbeth'' and ''Coriolanus''. Gambon was nominated for thirteen Olivier Awards, winning three times for ''A Chorus of Disapproval (play), A Chorus of Disapproval'' (1985), ''A View from the Bridge'' (1987) and ''Man of the Moment (play), Man of the Moment'' (1990). In 1997, Gambon made his Broadway debut in David Hare (playwright), David Hare's ''Skylight (play), Skylight,'' earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play nomination. Gambon made his film debut in ...
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Edward FitzGerald (poet)
Edward FitzGerald or Fitzgerald (31 March 180914 June 1883) was an English poet and writer. His most famous poem is the first and best-known English translation of '' The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam'', which has kept its reputation and popularity since the 1860s. Life Edward FitzGerald was born Edward Purcell at Bredfield House in Bredfield, some two miles north of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England, in 1809. In 1818, his father, John Purcell, assumed the name and arms of his wife's family, the FitzGeralds. His elder brother John used the surname Purcell-Fitzgerald from 1858. The change of family name occurred shortly after FitzGerald's mother inherited a second fortune. She had previously inherited over half a million pounds from an aunt, but in 1818, her father died and left her considerably more than that. The FitzGeralds were one of the wealthiest families in England. Edward FitzGerald later commented that all of his relatives were mad; further, that he was insane as well, but wa ...
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Hillsborough Disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the two standing-only central pens within the Leppings Lane stand allocated to Liverpool supporters. Shortly before kick-off, police match commander David Duckenfield ordered exit gate C to be opened in an attempt to ease crowding, which led to an influx of supporters entering the pens. This resulted in overcrowding of those pens and the fatal crush; with a total of 97 fatalities and 766 injuries, the disaster is the deadliest in British sporting history. Ninety-four people died on the day; one more died in hospital days later, Tony Bland died in 1993, and in 2021, Andrew Devine, the 97th person died. Both Bland and Devine had suffered irreversible brain damage on the day. The match was abandoned and replayed at Old Trafford in Manchester on 7 ...
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Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious situation, facing a difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction or before a commercial break in a television programme. A cliffhanger is intended to incentivize the audience to return to see how the characters resolve the dilemma. Some serials end with the caveat, "To Be Continued" or "The End?" In serial films and Television show, television series, the following episode sometimes begins with a recap sequence. Cliffhangers were used as literary devices in several works of the Middle Ages with ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ending on a cliffhanger each night. Cliffhangers appeared as an element of the Victorian era serial novel that emerged in the 1840s, with many associating the form with Charles Dickens, a pioneer of the serial publication of narrative fiction.Grossman, Jonathan H. (2012). ''Charles Dick ...
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Sarcastic
Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflection with which it is spoken or, with an undercurrent of irony, by the extreme disproportion of the comment to the situation, and is largely context-dependent. Etymology The word comes from the Ancient Greek σαρκασμός (''sarkasmós'') which is taken from σαρκάζειν (''sarkázein'') meaning "to tear flesh, bite the lip in rage, sneer".Oxford English Dictionary It is first recorded in English in 1579, in an annotation to '' The Shepheardes Calender'' by Edmund Spenser: However, the word ''sarcastic'', meaning "Characterized by or involving sarcasm; given to the use of sarcasm; bitterly cutting or caustic", does not appear until 1695. Usage In its entry on irony, Dictionary.com describes sarcasm thus: In sarcasm, rid ...
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Mania
Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a Psychiatry, psychiatric Abnormality (behavior), behavioral syndrome defined as a state of Abnormality (behavior), abnormally elevated arousal, affect (psychology), affect, and energy level. During a manic episode, an individual will experience Emotional lability, rapidly changing emotions and moods, highly influenced by surrounding Stimulus (psychology), stimuli. Although mania is often conceived of as a "mirror image" to depression (mood), depression, the heightened mood (psychology), mood can be Dysphoria, dysphoric as well as Euphoria, euphoric. As the mania intensifies, irritability can be more pronounced and result in anxiety or anger. The symptoms of mania include elevated mood (either euphoric or irritable), Flight of Ideas, flight of ideas, pressure of speech, increased energy, decreased "need" and desire for sleep, and psychomotor agitation, hyperactivity. They are most plainly evident in fully developed hypomanic states, however ...
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Problem Gambling
Problem gambling, ludopathy, or ludomania is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to DSM-5 if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological gambling is a common disorder associated with social and family costs. The DSM-5 has re-classified the condition as an addictive disorder, with those affected exhibiting many similarities to those with substance addictions. The term ''gambling addiction'' has long been used in the recovery movement. Pathological gambling was long considered by the American Psychiatric Association to be an impulse-control disorder rather than an addiction. However, data suggests a closer relationship between pathological gambling and substance use disorders than exists between PG and obsessive–compulsive disorder, mainly because the behaviors in problem gambling and most primary substance use disorders (i.e., those not resulting from a desire to " sel ...
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Sedentary Lifestyle
Sedentary lifestyle is a Lifestyle (social sciences), lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and/or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like socializing, Social aspects of television, watching TV, Gameplay, playing video games, reading or Problematic smartphone use, using a mobile phone or computer for much of the day. A sedentary lifestyle contributes to poor health quality, diseases as well as many preventable causes of death. Sitting time is a common measure of a sedentary lifestyle. A global review representing 47% of the global adult population found that the average person sits down for 4.7 to 6.5 hours a day with the average going up every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC found that 25.3% of all American adults are physically inactive. Screen time is a term for the amount of time a person spends looking at a screen such a ...
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Obese
Obesity is a medical condition, considered by multiple organizations to be a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it can potentially have negative effects on health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's weight divided by the square of the person's height—is over ; the range is defined as overweight. Some East Asian countries use lower values to calculate obesity. Obesity is a major cause of disability and is correlated with various diseases and conditions, particularly cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, certain types of cancer, and osteoarthritis. Obesity has individual, socioeconomic, and environmental causes. Some known causes are diet, low physical activity, automation, urbanization, genetic susceptibility, medications, mental disorders, economic policies, endocrine disorders, and exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals. While many people living wit ...
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Chain Smoker
Chain smoking is the practice of smoking several cigarettes in succession, sometimes using the ember of a finishing cigarette to light the next. The term chain smoker often also refers to a person who smokes relatively constantly, though not necessarily ''chaining'' each cigarette. The term applies primarily to cigarettes, although it can be used to describe incessant cigar and pipe smoking as well as vaping. It is a common indicator of addiction. Causes Many people chain-smoke when drinking alcoholic beverages, because alcohol potentiates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, leading to re-sensitization, hence inducing a craving. The extent to which chain smoking is driven by nicotine dependence has been studied. It does not seem that the amount of nicotine delivered is a significant factor, as the puff volume correlates poorly with the frequency of cigarette consumption. Clinical use Chain smoking is given as an example of excessive addictive behavior in the Diagnostic and St ...
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