Ripper Street
Just as the excellent Peaky Blinders was in its essence a Western played out on the streets of Birmingham in the time of King George V, so Ripper Street (BBC One, Monday) is a Western set in 1890s Whitechapel. And like most Westerns, it has at best a nodding relationship with realism. But it’s also terrifically entertaining. This week’s rather special episode sees the team call upon the help of a real-life Victorian celebrity. Reid and Drake are investigating a murder and the only clue leads to a freak show.
Enter the Elephant Man. The tragic figure of Joseph Merrick is more than just a bit of set dressing, he’s a key witness. The melding of fantasy and reality is a deft bit of cheek. It’s been noted by other, better, writers that it always seems to be women who get it in the neck in Ripper Street. There’s some of that here too. But I do think the writers may have taken some of the criticism on board. There’s a more egalitarian approach to this world of 19th-century murder and misery.
Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) himself is under threat this time. Detective Inspector Jedediah Shine is not at all a nice man. Just how ‘not nice’ he is becomes apparent over the course of this episode. Everything else is as you remember from series one.
There are delightful plaid suits, authentic-sounding Victorianera slang, and the whole affair’s shot in a moody sepia tone that only adds to the verisimilitude.
NOT TO BE MISSED
THE CRUEL CUT (Channel 4, Wed, 10.45pm)It’s a depressing truth that, in the 21st century, female genital mutilation is on the increase in the UK. This documentary follows a campaign to end it.
POIROT: THE LABOURS OF HERCULES (ITV, Wed, 8pm)
David Suchet comes back as Poirot to track down an art thief.
AMBASSADORS (BBC Two, Wed, 9pm)
Don’t miss Mitchell and Webb in the last part of this very funny satire on the diplomatic corps.