Cracker is brilliantly written; so much so that it not only allows you to empathize with awful people but it also shatters the perceptions of the viewer toward the good guys (so-called). Frequently exposing them as not particularly nice or likeable fallible human beings. When I watch it these days it does feel a little dated, not for the clothes or hairstyles but for the fact that it's an intelligently written, excellently acted piece of drama that allows the viewer to make their own conclusions, something you don't see these days. In fact it's as if someone read the script and decided to sabotage it from the makeup and costume departments as a last resort. Where every woman is adorned in frumpy clothes and accessories and all the men were given jack up trousers with bright white socks and pudding basin hairstyles. That aside, all poor aesthetic choices just serve to compliment the acting, writing, directing or further accentuate the bleakness of the subject matter.