To Say I Love You

"'To Say I Love You'"
Cracker episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 3, 4 & 5
Directed by Andy Wilson
Written by Jimmy McGovern
Original air date October 11–25, 1993

To Say I Love You is the second episode of Cracker. It is the first episode of the series divided into three parts, and is notable for featuring the first death of a major character, in this case, DC George Giggs.

Plot

Part One

Sean and Tina get acquainted.

Tina Brien goes into a pub one night and is lovestruck by the singing of a karaoke performer, Sean Kerrigan. She befriends Sean, learning that he has a stutter (and can only speak clearly when singing or angry) and is homeless and poor. Tina invites Sean to live with her in her rather run down flat, and the same night, they make love. Meanwhile, Fitz waits to meet with Judith in a restaurant, hoping to reconcile with her, but she turns up with her therapist, Graham, much to Fitz's chagrin. Judith agrees to return home if Fitz joins Gambler's Anonymous, but Fitz refuses, showing Judith the expensive clothes he bought her with his gambling money, a fact which Judith hates.

While Sean is taking a shower, Tina is paid a rude visit by a loan shark, Kevin Cormack, to whom she owes money and who takes her television and Sean's singing trophies. Tina goes to her family to ask them to lend her some money to pay Cormack and get Sean's cups back, but they refuse, instead telling her to dump Sean and return home first. Distraught, Sean hijacks a bus and speeds through Manchester until he is pulled over and arrested by the police. At the same time, Fitz is arrested for harassing Judith and her parents.

At the station, DS Jimmy Beck winds Sean up to the point that Sean begins throwing fits of rage. Reluctantly, Beck calls Fitz to calm Sean down. Sean requests that they contact Tina to tell her where he is. Fitz realises that Sean has a mental instability, and implores Beck to release Sean into his custody for psychiatric reports, but Beck refuses, instead sending Sean to court. Sean is placed on probation for two years and instructed to report to the station every two days. Still enraged at the loss of his trophies, Sean conspires with Tina to kill Cormack. That night, Tina lures Cormack up an alleyway with a promise of sex, but as they are making love, Sean crushes Cormack's skull with a brick. The murder so arouses Tina and Seam that they have sex next to Cormack's dead body, before fleeing back to their flat.

Cormack's body is found the next morning. DCI Bilborough hires Fitz again to look at the crime scene, and within a few minutes, Fitz accurately deduces how the murder was committed, noticing Sean's trouser button on the ground and strands of Tina's hair on the wall. Bilborough is skeptical, so Fitz makes a characteristic bet with him. Bilborough asks DC Giggs to hold the money. To Bilborough's chagrin, Fitz goes on a talk show that night and, annoyed by the host, gives a profile of the two killers. Sean and Tina see this on a television at a bowling centre, and Sean panics, convinced that Fitz knows about what he has done.

The police begin questioning those who owed Cormack money. Giggs pays Tina a visit and speaks with her. Convinced that the police are closing in on them, Tina invites Giggs to the flat that night for sex, and tells Sean (who was hiding) that they have to kill Giggs in order to stay together.

Part Two

Fitz decides to attend one of Graham's Gambler's Anonymous meetings, only to upstage Graham by getting all the others to start gambling with him. Later, in a private talk, Fitz subtly warns Graham not to try anything with him. Fitz's relationship with Mark is not going well either, and they get into another argument when Fitz notices small holes in Mark's shirt from when Mark was smoking, what fitz presumed to be Marijuana.

Giggs returns to Tina's flat and engages in foreplay with Tina, but as soon as he notices the flat covered in bin liners, he is brutally beaten to death by Sean and his body is dumped on the riverside, along with a video of a disguised Sean and Tina telling the police of their plan to kill Giggs so that they can stay together. Fitz tries to get Judith to return home for their children's sake, but she tells him she is going to dinner with Graham, and has been going out with him for a while now. In retaliation, Fitz takes DS Penhaligon out to dinner at the same time and restaurant. Embarrassed and hurt at being used, Penhaligon pours a jug of cold water on Fitz and walks out. Fitz goes back to Penhaligon's apartment and apologises to her, but turns down her offer to stay the night.

Beck and Penhaligon refuse to admit Fitz was right all along.

Giggs's body is discovered and Bilborough calls Fitz and Penhaligon to the scene, at the same time warning Beck that they have to investigate rationally and stick to procedure. During the autopsy, however, Beck lashes out at the pathologist for referring to Giggs as "the victim." While going through his belongings, Fitz and Bilborough find a packet of condoms inside Giggs's jacket pocket. They ask Penhaligon if it is possible that Giggs could have been cheating on his wife, and she agrees, adding that Giggs had had a vasectomy years ago, and was likely hoping to avoid catching anything from his killer using the condoms. Beck impulsively and aggressively arrests some of the people whom Giggs questioned, which infuriates Bilborough. The video comes back from forensics and is played for the police. Fitz immediately recognises Sean and the police raid Sean and Tina's flat, but they are gone. Fuming, Fitz tells Bilborough that they had Sean in custody but Beck released him. Bilborough angrily confronts Beck and Penhaligon about this, but they deny it, as Fitz has no proof. In private, Penhaligon tells Bilborough that she was severely hurt by the death of her father years ago, but if she were to show the same emotion over Giggs' death, everyone would use it as an excuse to doubt her capability as a policewoman. Bilborough assures her he has no doubts, and reveals that his wife is pregnant.

That night, Fitz is alone at a pub when he is approached by Tina, calling herself "Michelle" and pretending to be a psychology student. Sean and Tina have made a plan to kill Fitz, but Fitz sees through Tina's ruse and discreetly calls the police, who arrive and arrest Tina as Sean speeds away.

Part Three

Bilborough and Penhaligon interrogate Tina about Sean's whereabouts, but Tina refuses to tell them anything, instead silently enduring the overt hatred of the police. Sean, meanwhile, goes to a petrol station and severely beats the shopkeeper, stealing several tanks of fuel.

Fitz is called in to question Tina, but she still refuses to talk, comparing her relationship with Sean to that of Bonnie and Clyde. Sean calls Fitz at home, but just as Fitz answers the phone Mark suffers an attack from appendicitis, and Fitz rushes him to the hospital. Fitz and Judith briefly reconcile over their son's predicament, and Fitz weeps at his son's bedside. Later, Judith tells Fitz she wants to come home, admitting she had sex with Graham but regrets it. However, Fitz is hurt by this news, and deliberately pushes Judith away.

Fitz and Penhaligon visit Tina's family to gain information on her background. At the station, Fitz speaks to Tina about how her life was much better a few years before but she slowly started failing at school and eventually left home. Tina finally reveals the reason for her resentment towards her family: as she had been growing older, she began to realise that the primary reason for her birth was to serve as a guide dog for her blind sister, Sammy, who absorbed all the family attention when they were children.

Sean in his final moments.

Tina eventually grew to hate Sammy for this (as Sammy did Tina despite everything Tina did for her), and left her neglectful parents (and further reinforcing Tina's belief is that her parents bought a Labrador to replace her after she left). Indeed, when Tina's parents come to visit, all she does is growl mockingly in their faces. But Fitz finally manages to win over Tina by promising her one final private hour with Sean before they go to prison if she turns him over. Tina reveals that Sean will most likely go after Sammy, in revenge for being the primary cause of Tina's misery. Bilborough has Tina's parents call Sammy to warn her, but just as she answers the phone Sean arrives and attacks Sammy, dousing her, himself and the entire house with fuel and turning the gas taps on.

Fitz and the police rush to Sammy's home and Bilborough repeatedly calls Sean, offering himself up as a hostage. Despite his stutter, Sean manages to demand that Fitz come inside alone. Fitz does so and Sean attempts to tell him that he was behind everything and forced Tina into aiding him. Fitz bluffs by backing this up, telling Sean that Tina had sex with Giggs when Sean wasn't there and willingly told them where Sean would be in exchange for her own freedom. Enraged, Sean threatens to light a match and blow the house up with the three of them still inside, but the fire brigade informs Bilborough that the Brien house has central heating which will come on at six o'clock - in exactly three minutes - and blow the house up anyway. With Sean no longer in control, Fitz leads Sammy out of the house and away from harm. Once alone with Sean, Fitz tells him that Tina only gave him up because she was promised an hour with him, and implores him to leave the house with him. Sean, however, laughs at the idea of "one lousy stinking hour" and begins singing crazily, forcing Fitz to leave Sean behind.

Fitz is walking unhurriedly down the street when the house explodes, knocking him to the ground. A distraught Penhaligon rushes to his side and cries, believing him to be dead, but Fitz wakes up satisfied, now knowing of Penhaligon's feelings for him. Penhaligon cries with relief in Fitz's arms.

Cast

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