Whitechapel Ripper Returns

I have been a fan of Rupert Penry-Jones since watching his performance in Persuasion where he played the dashing Captain Frederick Wentworth. In Whitechapel though, Penry-Jones finds himself playing a very different role indeed. He is still dashing, and smartly-dressed in Savile Row suits, but his rank as a newly-minted DI on the fast track inadvertently places him on a case that turns out to be a serial murder mimicking the gruesome crimes of Jack the Ripper.

DI Joseph Chandler is being groomed for the HQ and as part of this training, is expected to pay his dues with a brief stint as a DI on a case that initially appears to be open and shut. The DI finds himself in unfamiliar territory and is looked upon with derision by the cynical DS Ray Miles (Phil Davis) and the other members of the team. The series is broken up into three episodes and each episode sees the team puzzling out the case which gets even more complicated when the team realizes that this is indeed a copycat killing of the Jack the Ripper murders, which means more victims will be targeted soon enough.

Over the course of the three episodes, DS Miles and the other team members come to a grudging acceptance of DI Chandler and even accord him some measure of respect especially when his hunches prove true. Chandler is also assisted during the course of the investigation by a self-avowed Ripperologist Edward Buchan (Steve Pemberton) who prides himself on his vast knowledge about the Ripper murders and delights in the macabre Ripper tours he conducts in London's Whitechapel district.

The show's appeal partly lies in the plausible interweaving of the past events and the parallels with the present-day crimes. Then there's the all-consuming question of the modern Ripper's identity - will reading about the past crimes yield any clues at all about the present-day murderer's identity? There's a sense of suspense throughout and the viewer is left puzzling out the case along with Chandler and his team and trying to unmask the killer. The sense of menace is palpable throughout as viewers get a view of some of the gory details of the past crimes and present. Recommended for fans of atmospheric and suspenseful crime dramas.

I have a great fondness for English film/television, and now the BBC America series 'Whitechapel,' which opens with a three-part mini-series about a Jack the Ripper copycat comes our way. It is a fascinating study of modern police work versus the real Jack the Ripper era.

We are introduced to straight-laced DI Joseph Chandler, played by Rupert Penry-Jones, a avorite from MI-5 days. He is an up and comer and hopes to move to the administrative end of the police world. He enters the 'old way of policing and detective work', and almost immediately he runs up against DS Ray Miles, played by Phil Davis. The slovely, disrespectful group of detectives are in the beginning phase of a case that resembles Jack the Ripper of old. They discount any and all information from a 'Ripperologist' played by Steve Pemberton. He is a fascinating character and plays a large part in these series. After some conflict between Chandler, and the other detectives, they check unsolved crimes and discover that, much like the Ripper, this copycat may have killed before.

The three shows seem very fast paced, and many of the clues and thought processes are forced on us, to digest and assimilate. The Ripperologist, fills in many gaps, and I felt on top of the facts of Jack the Ripper and his crimes. This was an historical lesson as well as a good police procedural. The series tells us of the six women who were killed, how, when and where. The continuity of Jack the Ripper gives this show a great base, and the mystery is filled with suspense. We come to know the detectives and some of their quirks. Their tendencies to disorganization does not stand them in good stead with their new DI, and as they get to know him, they show change. This is a male 'Prime Suspect' and is well worth your viewing.

Recommmended. prisrob 11-02-11

The 39 Steps

I Heart Connecticut [HD]

History's enduring fascination with the gruesome crimes of Jack The Ripper continues unabated with yet another example of popular fiction being inspired by the legendary murderer. Truthfully, I have read enough books, seen enough television, and watched enough movies that cast Jack The Ripper into a central role that I feel like he's an old friend--albeit one I wouldn't want to invite home to dinner. So wearily and warily, I sat down to ITV's three part suspenser "Whitechapel: The Ripper Returns." Within minutes, however, I was hooked! Moody and stylish, "Whitechapel" is an expertly assembled crime drama that posits a familiar scenario where a modern day maniac is duplicating the crimes of the notorious Ripper. And while we've seen this exact set-up countless times before, it works grandly yet again. By concentrating on the police procedural aspects of the investigation as opposed to the crimes, this becomes a tense race against time to try to outwit and outmaneuver a killer by using clues from historical records. It's both well paced and well acted--and, in only three parts, it is a concise and scary little story.

Beginning with a vicious murder, the case is afoot. Rupert Penry-Jones plays an ambitious detective inspector who gets his first big murder case without initially realizing the magnitude of what will unfold. He is clued into the similarities to Jack the Ripper by a Ripper expert/enthusiast played perfectly by Steve Pemberton. Bringing the theory back to his new squad, they treat it with skepticism. In fact, the officers (led by the terrific Phillip Davis) are generally dismissive of the younger inexperienced man. However, as the pattern continues to prove correct, a grudging form of respect starts to develop and everyone is intent of catching the copycat before time elapses on the last murder. Again, the first two episodes are near perfection establishing colorful characters and genuine tension. "Whitechapel: The Ripper Returns" does, however, feel a bit rushed for its final act. It's not necessarily a fatal flaw, but so much is stuffed into the last thirty minutes--it doesn't build to the excruciating confrontation that I had been hoping for and expecting.

Still, if you are a fan of these British mysteries or crime procedurals, there is a lot to recommend "The Ripper Returns." I really liked Penry-Jones (but I usually do), but it is Pemberton that brings an unexpected pathos to the piece. Quite literally, he steals every scene that he's in. There are a lot of elements that you've seen before--The Ripper, office politics, copycat crimes--but they are assembled into a tight and cohesive plot. Fabulously entertaining and appropriately dark, I'm certainly glad I checked this out. The same team has already put together another three episode arc for season two and have a promised return in 2012 for season three. (Gotta love British TV--three episodes constitutes a season!) I will be front and center for these new crimes! KGHarris, 11/11.

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