Whitechapel
Carnival Films and Television
(A UK DVD)

About twice a year I order DVDs from the UK. Our buddy ALI KARIM brought some over for me during Bouchercon and I got a few more afterwords. One of the was WHITECHAPEL.

Whitechapel stars Rupert Pentry-Jones who fans of Spooks (MI_5) will recognize as Adam Carter. In Whitechapel he plays a copper, DI Chandler, on the rise in the department, making the right moves for a trip to the top. Chandler is given a homicide case with the thinking that a quick wrap up will help move him forward. It son becomes obvious that the case is a bit too complex for that and that his detective skills are not up to the task.

There is a murderer re creating the crimes of Jack The Ripper and his attention to detail is disturbing. As the case progresses help comes from a suspect who is a ripper-ologist. He turns out to be thr wrong man, but his insights help move the case forward.

As these types of things go, we get a chance to see DI Chandler become a better cop and earn the trust of the men under him. They eventually figure things out and the ending works.

All in all this is a fun 136 minutes. The acting is good, the production values are wonderful and they do a nice job building suspense. They also do a nice job of portraying the violence without being overly graphic. A bit cliched at times but not to the point of being annoying.It’s a fun film and I am truly a sucker for anything with Jack the Ripper themes. When the credits rolled I was glad I watched and will no doubt be popping it in for repeated viewings.

In the extra features one of the producers claims that no one has ever done an updated version of the Ripper killings. Really? Maybe she just doesn’t ever watch TV or movies. Or she could just be a publicity machine pouting things to sell the show.What ever the case, her comment is typical of the featurette about the production and it isn’t reall must see viewing.