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As Geraldine Somerville talks about her role in Cracker, JANE ENNIS asks the burning question: will Penhaligon and Fitz satisfy millions of viewers and finally get together?

Geraldine Somerville, half of the hottest "will-they-won't-they" romance on television since the Gold Blend ads, sits and plays with her long red hair, unimpressed by the fuss her TV role is causing.

On Monday night, 12 million viewers will tune in to the final episode of "Cracker," to see if her character, DS Jane Penhaligon, finally gets it on with Fitz, the hard-drinking, chain-smoking clinical psychologist played by Robbie Coltrane.

It's been obvious from the first episode that they fancy the pants off each other and now viewers are dying to see what happens between beauty and the beast. Not that Fitz is really a beast, but a compulsive gambler with marriage and weight problems hardly seems a good catch for a pretty, intelligent Detective Sargeant.

Says Geraldine: "I think people are intrigued because it's not the stereotypical relationship we usually see on television.

"I can see why Penhaligon fancies Fitz - he's such a vibrant character. He preaches living life on the edge, whereas she is very cautious. He is brilliant at his job and she is flattered he has recognized that she is good at hers too.

"He's funny, sensitive and the best company she has ever had."

So, will we ever see Fitz and Panhandle (Fitz's nickname for her) fall into each other's arms? Penhaligon asks him to go away with her for two weeks, but will he? After all, he's already turned her down once.

Geraldine is giving nothing away, she simply smiles enigmatically and coaxes another curly tendril of hair off her face.

Like Penhaligon, Geraldine has no boyfriend - but for an entirely different reason. "I'm simply too busy," she says. And its [sic] true - there's rarely a break in her schedule.

Filming "Cracker" was particularly hard as she was appearing in London's West End at the time. She would drive up to Manchester every night - and then be up at 5 a.m. for filming. At the end of the day, a car brought her back to London just in time for curtain up.

Geraldine's next project is playing Juliet in a Channel 4 production of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet".

"I believe it's going to be filmed in a big barn with lots of candles," she says mysteriously.

After that, another series of "Cracker" looms. Will Fitz give up gambling and drink? Will Penhaligon still be chasing after him?

Geraldine says: "I think she is beginning to see Fitz in a different light. He doesn't always practice what he preaches and he's not as exciting as he appears to be. He encourages her to be reckless, but he's very controlled with his own emotions.

"I think he's going to have to give a bit more or he'll lose her."