Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, David Threlfall, MyAnna Buring, Charlene McKenna, Lucy Cohu, Ronny Jhutti, Matthew Lewis, Michael Liebmann, Derek Riddell, Killian Scott, Stewart Scudamore, Jonas Armstrong, Andrew Brooke, Anna Burnett, Hamza Firdous, Michael Ford-Fitzgerald, Clare Foster, Ian Gelder, Ed Hughes, Anna Koval, Izzy Meikle-Small, Emer O’ Grady, Benjamin O’ Mahony, Karl O’ Neill, Isaac O’ Sullivan.
Beyond the Tower of London, down past the remains of Chaucer’s house and The Minories and through the modern urban landscape of East London still lives and breathes the beating heart of the city proper, the area of Whitechapel, socially perhaps the most edifying and interesting part of the huge expanse that radiates out from the first seeds of the Capital and one that is forever part of folklore and legends; the legend grows strong when you talk to the people of the area and it is the one place that never feels as though you are intruding in The Strangers’ Home to hear a good tale.
Ripper Street may have suffered the indignity of being cancelled as it was one of the best programmes on television, its central core of characters so well defined and full of promise that the cancellation causing the type of outrage which seems unbecoming of British audiences but one that was so well deserved and thankfully one that was put right, even it meant being placed on a television platform that sticks in the craw.
After the events of series three, one in which saw Detective Inspector Reid finally leave the area of Whitechapel and find some piece on the south coast of England, one in which saw him finally reunited with his daughter and the crimes of Long Susan finally accounted for, to have him working surreptitiously behind the lines in search of the truth of a violent killer terrifying the Jewish population of Whitechapel is one sure way to bring back the series with a gigantic and positive bang.
Three years have passed between the events of the last series and the start of this, the feeling of certain gentrification, a parallel to the modern day, can be seen to be taking place and a fresh contemporary way of dealing with the aches of the local population and the jealousies that take their fancy is to be seen as progressive. Yet as the figure head of Empire looks to her last years and the assault of the people of under the thumb of British rule tear themselves apart, so too does the population of the East End and when a relationship becomes too much for one family to bear, murder and rivalry is the only action possible.
With tremendous sincerity to the programme shown once more by the three main leads, Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothenberg, being added to the appearance of David Threlfall’s Dock boss Abel Croker, series four got off to the kind of start that a fan of the era and the area could wish for; resolute in its delivery, outstanding in its production values, Ripper Street is surely to be seen as one of the most progressive programmes of its time.
Ian D. Hall