TV: Whitechapel

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I just finished watching the third and final episode of Whitechapel from last night. What a gripping mini-series this has been!

London 2008. A series of horrific crimes suggest someone is carrying out copycat Jack the Ripper murders 120 years after the killer struck. The clock is ticking as the case turns into a hunt for an old enemy, with three unlikely heroes at the centre.

It starred Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks, The 39 Steps), playing DI Joseph Chandler; Steve Pemberton (League of Gentlemen) as Ripperologist Edward Buchan and the excellent Phil Davies (Vera Drake, Bleak House, Quadrophenia) as DS Ray Miles.

It tells the story of a fast-tracked rookie Policemen (RPJ), who is assigned to assist with the investigation of Jack-the-Ripper copy-cat murders. Phil Davies plays the battle-weary Copper who’s been-there, done-it and got the t-shirt (twice!). Initially their relationship is strained because the experienced team don’t trust nor respect the fast-tracked inexperienced RPJ. But, they soon begin to work with, and benefit from, each others’ differences and in the end, they’re working together to solve the mystery.

Competent acting all round and a very tense storyline. Some of the scenes of mutilation were a bit graphic, but they were only on screen for a short period of time. The strange camera-work used at the beginning of scenes where it looked as if the scene had been shot with multiple cameras with multiple zooms was initially, quite irritating, but I soon got used to it. The language was quite tame but in my opinion that didn’t take away the realism of the script. The scenes shot around London varied between the ultra modern and the grimy back-streets – the contrast worked well. 

The ending was very well-done and I almost got the impression they were setting up the main characters for a series – who knows?

In conclusion, it’s probably not the sort of programme that you would choose to watch with the whole family – especially your granny!

Digital Spy reported that the final episode attracted an impressive 7.55m (30%) in the 9pm hour for ITV1.

Hope they eventually release this on DVD!!
Looks like Amazon have it on DVD already! (It was released on 16 February 2009)