Whitechapel

Whitechapel

Yesterday evening we watched the first episode of 'Whitechapel' in preparation for Episode 27 of 'Round The Archives'.

First shown in February 2009 it is quite a recent show for us to be covering.

And it's an interesting series to cover as it is set in the present day, but is obviously influenced by the Jack the Ripper legend and would go on to feature The Kray Twins and in a later series The Ratcliffe Highway Murders.

One thing that I did like is that all of the characters featured have names that are connected in some way to Jack The Ripper.

The most obvious of these is DI Joseph Chandler (as played by Rupert Penry-Jones), as there was an actual Inspector Joseph Chandler, who was the first senior policeman to arrive at the site of Annie Chapman's body. Also the female Pathologist (played by Claire Rushbrook) is Dr Llewellyn, the name of the doctor who examined Mary Ann Nichols' body and was one of the Police Surgeons in the area.

You also have Edward  Buchan (Steve Pemberton) who is a Ripperologist and was the name of a possible suspect at the time. And his character is probably the most fun and interesting to watch as he is an eccentric (he's got a hat!) but knowledgeable person.

Rupert Penry-Jones and Phil Davis are also excellent and rub up against each other very well in the first episode; being a fast-tracked "plastic" policeman and the other an old-school old-fashioned copper (according to the press pack which is still available online as I discovered this afternoon).

There is also a link between this and the 1988 'Jack The Ripper' series as Christopher Fulford stars in both, playing DC Fitzgerald in 'Whitechapel' and Sergeant Brent in 'Jack the Ripper'.

It's a very atmospheric series with nicely shot scenes of the killer in shadow and the camera right in close behind Chandler towards the end of the episode when he is looking around a run down flat.

One thing that annoyed me however was the fast moving shots of London that are shown in between scenes as I find these a little gimmicky and unnecessary.

I am looking forward to watching the rest of the series and to see if I have remembered the ending correctly.

(Written by Lisa Parker)