HARRY POTTER - COLTRANE: 'US CENSORS HAVE CLEANED UP CRACKER'

HARRY POTTER star ROBBIE COLTRANE is amused by America's strict TV censorship laws - because his tough-talking detective character in CRACKER can't even smoke. The burly Scottish star urges US watchdogs to adopt British rules that allow for sex, nudity, expletives and smoking on TV after the 9pm watershed. But even he admits US time zones would make that tough. He says, "The trouble is that you've got three time zones, so if you put something out live at nine o'clock in New York, it's six o'clock in LA. "You can say 'F**k' in New York, but you are in trouble in California. "It's the politically correct things that get to me - my character in Cracker wasn't really allowed to smoke, so they cleaned him up. "I mean the whole point about Cracker is that he is almost electrically and crystalline clear about what's wrong with everyone else, but totally in denial about what's wrong with himself. "So, of course he smokes and drinks and behaves badly and says inappropriate things."