Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenburg, MyAnna Buring, Joseph Mawle, David Wilmott, Joseph Drake, Gillian Saker.
For the men in H Division, the thin blue line that just about keeps some semblance of order in London’s Whitechapel, no sooner do they rid the area of one killer than another soon takes its place. This time though the killer hiding in the shadows, dealing death to those who get in the way is Heroin; the narcotic that brought back the sins of Empire to the shores of the Thames and backed by the worst criminal of all, the corrupt policeman.
Ripper Street returns to fill the void left by the other detective programme based in the heart of London’s East End and to have the likes of Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothenburg back for a second series is one of the most welcome additions to the television schedules for quite a while.
In Pure as the Driven, the seedy underbelly of late 19TH Century Whitechapel just became that little bit more terrifying. The scourge of Jack the Ripper, the East-Ends most violent and notorious serial killer, may have long since departed, however with the prospect of a different type of Chinese explosion happening in amongst the good people of Whitechapel, quite rightly Inspector Reid is concerned about this new killer being on the loose on his streets.
Yet you must always have a villain and when it is one of their own, it makes for difficultly. The addition of Joseph Mawle, who has shined in the past in Birdsong, is the perfect foil to Inspector Reid. Dangerous, without conscious and so corrupt it makes certain modern police dishonesty look like a walk in the park.
The programme also touched upon the so called sideshow that was Joseph Merrick, The Elephant Man and his friend the skilled surgeon Sir Frederick Treves as they became prominent figures in the chaos around them. It is these small touches, alongside the grim reality of Whitechapel in the death throes of a century that was far from enlightened and the life of Inspector Reid that makes this programme almost feel unique. There is no cosy settlement, no chance to blow a cautious whistle of joy as the villain is apprehended and the murderer unmasked; this was Whitechapel in all its unfettered glory and fiery gore.
A great opening to the second series of Ripper Street and one that looks as if it will be as popular as its debut.
Ian D. Hall