Cracker: One Day a Lemming Will Fly

One Day a Lemming Will Fly 
Air dates: 11/1 and 11/8/93 
Written: Jimmy McGovern 
Directed: Simon Cellan Jones

"I like mysteries, but I rather dislike muddles." - E.M. Forster, A Passage to India

Some of Cracker's more perceptive analysts (Lawrence Russell, Mark Duguid) view it through the prism of masculinity challenged: psychological male order disrupted by crime, deviant sexuality or changing social mores. This feels especially valid given the show's setting within the "man's world" of police. Crime's impact on survivors proves just as important as the victims themselves, as family and the police crack under pressure. Confronted with enactments of their base fantasies, people react badly.

One Day a Lemming Will Fly touches heavily on these themes. It also centers on that most maddening occurrence: an insoluble mystery. But that's only one aspect of this extraordinary show, arguably Cracker's finest hour, where its hero (and his methods) is subjected to brutal deconstruction.

Teenaged boy Timothy Lang is found murdered in the woods. Several witnesses prove reluctant to come forward, complicating DCI Bilborough's investigation. Suspicion centers on Nigel Cassidy (Christopher Fulford), Timothy's teacher, who tries to kill himself shortly after the boy's death. Fitz believes Cassidy harbored feelings for Timothy, browbeating the suspect into confession. But even as public pressure to solve the case mounts, Fitz realizes Cassidy might be innocent.

One Day a Lemming Will Fly hinges largely on male insecurity. Timothy appears to be a tormented young man: "more a girl than a boy," he's picked on at school, ignored by his feuding parents (Tim Healy and Frances Tomelty) and comforted by Cassidy. His brother (Lee Hartney) reacts by lashing out at a school bully; his father resents him as a victim, saying he wished the boy killed himself instead. Rather than taking charge of his life, Mr. Lang suggests, Timothy was "a victim to the end": the antithesis of a man.

Then there's Nigel Cassidy. Christopher Fulford's nervy performance highlights the teacher's insecurity. Introduced slugging a punching bag, he constantly throws out assurances of his manliness which Fitz recognizes instantly. His affection towards Timothy exceeds pedagogical guidance, yet he rankles at the suggestion of homosexuality. What greater threat to masculinity is there? It certainly rankles Jimmy Beck, who bombards Cassidy with homophobic slurs, then shaves his mustache after Fitz suggest he's sublimating gay feelings himself.

In this context, Christopher Eccleston's DCI Bilborough gets his most compelling characterization. He's challenged both professionally and personally, trading barbs with his boss (Edward Peel) and a pathologist (Geoffrey Hutchings) incongruously dressed as Napoleon. Mainly he's preoccupied with wife Catriona's (Amelia Bullmore) pregnancy, which increasingly bleeds into his work. Even Beck thinks Bilborough goes too far berating one witness for not coming forward sooner. With the DCI so wrapped up in paternal anxiety, it's little wonder his professional conduct suffers.

This affects the female leads, too. Judith tries to reconcile with Fitz while remaining unrepentant about her fling with Graham. Fitz withholds sex from her and, for the first time, seriously contemplates sleeping with Penhaligon. "Panhandle" herself resents being delegated the "sensitive" work of comforting victims, and Bilborough claiming her feelings for Fitz interfere with her work. "I thought you were an absolute gob shite!" she tells Bilborough, with evident relish, after a rude interview. Even Penhaligon, hardened against sexist gibes, has her limits; Fitz standing her up adds insult to injury.

McGovern extends this challenge to order beyond gender roles. Lemming recalls a host of disparate fiction: A Passage to India, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Zodiac. These films show survivors going mad contemplating an enigma. As viewers we like stories wrapped up neatly, especially when real life isn't so tidy. True enigmas are maddening: witness the ongoing obsession with Jack the Ripper or Amelia Earhart. Fitz's fear that the killer will strike again is never followed through: it's a random, pointless act, leaving only questions and grief.

Nor is the notion of an innocent man sent into the dock very comforting. Groggy's a huge fan of 10 Rillington Place, Richard Fleischer's docudrama about serial killer John Reginald Christie, who framed an innocent man, Timothy Evans, for his crimes. McGovern shows a gang of locals, led by Timothy's father, mobbing the police station and twice trying to murder Cassidy. Bilborough buckles under, deciding that results (and good PR) outweigh justice. Even after Cassidy admits his innocence Bilborough keeps him locked up, leading to a temporary break with Fitz.

Yet Fitz himself is hardly blameless. Robbie Coltrane does brilliant work showing Fitz at a low ebb. Showing unusual tenderness, he comforts Timothy's grieving family, talking them through their conflicted feelings. Yet elsewhere he's constantly failing: he wins at gambling but gets roughed up by casino toughs. He alienates Judith while betraying Penhaligon. He's caught up in the hunt for Cassidy no less than Bilborough and Beck, confronting the suspect with sexual questions and even driving away his girlfriend. It's terrifying watching his skills drive an innocent man to confess.

Cassidy's ultimate decision, to take the rap so Fitz can "share my burden," is repugnant but understandable. Even if he recants or somehow gets off, his life's ruined: no job, no girlfriend, a public pariah, a multitude of sexual questions. All because law enforcement's failure to solve a murder became a public embarrassment. There's no getting around the fact that Fitz was absolutely, devastatingly wrong. And unlike most detectives, there's no last minute redemption.

There lies Lemming's brilliance. Few television programs, at least of that era, make their protagonist so morally compromised. Fitz blames Bilborough for jailing an innocent man, even though he led the DCI to that conclusion. At show's end he returns to Judith instead of joining Penhaligon on holiday. Knowing Fitz, this is more lassitude than morality. We know next week he'll be back gambling, smoking and chasing "Panhandle." It's just his nature.

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Hope you've enjoyed these installments so far! Before plunging into series two, I'll take a break and review some actual movies. This is a film blog, after all...