Viewing that could be just up your Street
IF YOU enjoy British whodunits, Ripper Street is a must-see. Set in 1897, the period crime drama boasts an incredible cast as it explores the criminal underbelly of London’s East End.
The fourth instalment takes place amid Queen Victoria’s celebration of her Diamond Jubilee. While there is much excitement about the new police headquarters of Whitechapel, racial tensions run high as the unrest in the Jewish population grows amid the discovery of the body of an Indian man on the docks. And the escalating attacks on foreigners aren’t helping the situation.
Inspector Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn) teams up with H Divisions’ forensic expert, Captain Homer Jackson (Adam Rotherberg), to solve the case.
While Jackson has abandoned his debauched lifestyle, his relationship with his wife Susan remains fragile. More so as he is unable to get her death sentence for her involvement in a train derailment suspended. This causes him much emotional grief.
Then there is the now-retired Detective Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfayden) and his spirited teenage daughter, Mathilda (Anna Burnett).
All the personal and professional stories remain interconnected as the series plays out. And great attention to detail is paid to the stylish costumes of the era, the backdrop and the prim and proper dialect.
In an interview with Den of Geek, Macfayden revealed what’s on the cards for his character this season. More so, because Macfayden’s perception that he was initially cast as a tortured policeman was a far cry from how the writers penned his character.
He reveals: “Reid is such a progressive man, and such a kind man in a sense, but that’s restricted by the times he lives in and also the fact that he works with such horror on a daily basis. He has to compromise to do good.
“What I really appreciate with the writers is that Reid and Susan have developed this understanding. It feels like, here are two great minds who meet and understand each other in a way that a lot of other people may not and therefore there’s a certain level of appreciation between the two for the other.”
And this after he learns that it was Susan who shot him.
He adds: “It is an understanding. He’s come to a sort of peace about it. But there’s a greater understanding that good people do bad things, and that you know when someone’s beyond redemption.”
As for his character struggling to adjust to his daughter’s independent streak, he says: “She’s 18 and, like any teenager, wants to be on the train to London. She’s grown up. She’s starting to kick against him and he’s aware of that.
“And I think he’s feeling the provincial pettiness a bit of Hampton-on-Sea.”
Of course, politics rears its ugly head in the series too as emotional conflicts ebb into the professional obligations of our crime-solving cast. And there are artful characters who throw in a few red herrings just to make things a little more interesting. 1 Conserve resources (7) 2 Media hype (9) 3 Continuous change (4) 4 Of skin, hardened and tough (8) 5 Of clothes, tight and revealing (6) 6 Mediated, arranged an agreement (10) 7 Sudden unreasoning terror (5) 8 Foreign mission (7) 13 Longevity, persistence (10) 16 Controversial or sensitive issue (3,6) 17 Deerskin shoe (8) 18 Docks, piers (7) 20 Underground prison (7) 21 Zealous (6) 23 Convulsion (5) 25 Opinion (4) Down: - 2 Tendentious. 3 Maul. 4 Largess. 5 Normal. 6 Blancmange. 7 Old. 8 Kitty. 9 Scaffold. 14 Elephantine. 15 Emasculate. 18 Employer. 19 Slovenia. 22 Step up. 23 Doggo. 25 Yogi. 27 Ale.
- 1 Top Hat. 2 Mother Courage. 3 Lehar. 5 Retsina. 6 Lionel Hampton. 7 Kummel. 8 Ifans. 13 Rhaetia. 15 Pampas. 16 Basie. 17 Osprey. 20 Thebe.
Ripper Street airs on BBC First (DStv channel 119) on Fridays at 9pm.