levo
Log inStart

Television in the Global Age

Cracker: 'To be a Somebody' (1994), ITV

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 3

Overview

Recall questions on the broadcast details, the profession and representation of the central character, why an outsider consultant suits the genre, the real event behind the offender's grievance, the racist violence and how the audience is positioned, the death of a regular character, and masculinity in 1990s Britain.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

Identify the 1990s UK crime drama set for study as Cracker and give its broadcast details.

Key term

Why is an outsider consultant a useful protagonist for a crime drama?

Key term

What happens to the senior detective later in this story, after the set first part?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Identify the 1990s UK crime drama set for study as Cracker and give its broadcast details.

    Model answer

    Cracker, Series 2 Episode 1 'To be a Somebody' part 1 (1994), written by Jimmy McGovern and originally broadcast on ITV.

  2. 2

    What is the profession of the central character in Cracker?

    Model answer

    He is a criminal psychologist who works alongside the police to build profiles of offenders, rather than being a police officer himself.

  3. 3

    How is the central character of Cracker represented?

    Model answer

    Fitz is brilliant at reading other people and destructive in his own life, gambling, drinking heavily and wrecking his marriage, so his insight and his self-harm come from the same source.

  4. 4

    Why is an outsider consultant a useful protagonist for a crime drama?

    Model answer

    Standing outside the chain of command lets him say what serving officers cannot, put pressure on suspects in ways the police may not, and offer the audience a critical view of the investigation.

  5. 5

    What real event lies behind the offender's grievance in 'To be a Somebody'?

    Model answer

    The disaster at the Hillsborough football stadium in 1989 and the false press reporting that followed it are what the offender's rage grows out of.

  6. 6

    Why is the use of that real event significant?

    Model answer

    It brings a recent national trauma and the treatment of ordinary supporters into a mainstream drama, so the crime becomes an argument about grief, class and press dishonesty.

See the rest and revise

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Contexts of Media
Media Language
Media Representations
Media Industries

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Submarine is set in .
SwanseaCardiffAberystwyth

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AQuantitative data counts how many.
BQualitative data explains why.
CA production usually needs both.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

An audience receives what is offered.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Television in the Global Age, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Start revising, £5 a monthSee how the method works

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.