NBC CERTAINLY ISN'T SHOWING ANYTHING BETTER THIS WEEK:

`Cracker' finally back on the case, for BBC America (Charlie McCollum, 10/30/06, San Jose Mercury News)

In the pantheon of modern-day British crime solvers, criminal psychologist Edward (Fitz) Fitzgerald of ``Cracker'' ranks right up there with Jane Tennison of ``Prime Suspect,'' Endeavour Morse of ``Inspector Morse'' and Tony Hill of ``Wire in the Blood.''

But it's been a long time between cases for Fitzgerald. The last original ``Cracker'' film aired in this country more than a decade ago on A&E. There was a quickly canceled Americanized version on ABC in 1997, but for true aficionados, that doesn't count.

Well, the brilliant but infuriating profiler is back for at least one more murder in ``Cracker: A New Terror'' (10 tonight, BBC America), written by creator Jimmy McGovern, with Robbie Coltrane returning to the role that made him famous. [...]

Coltrane's portrayal of the often-obnoxious Fitzgerald will come as a revelation to those who know him only as the loyal Hagrid in the ``Harry Potter'' films. He is as brilliant as ever in this part; we are as fascinated with Fitzgerald as we are repelled by his excesses. Certainly, he and McGovern have resisted any temptation to make Fitzgerald any more lovable than he was a decade ago.