Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Raetsonwe Redundant and unnecessary.

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

TheLittleSongbird Whitechapel on paper seemed as an interesting idea to work from, and in reality it was like that exactly. Some of the character development may come across as rather hackneyed at some points, but what made Whitechapel work especially for me was its atmosphere. The atmosphere is resolutely creepy and gripping, and this is helped by some top notch production values and haunting music.The writing is thoughtful and well written and the story lines are always compelling and well paced with some genuinely shocking scenes to boot. The direction is taut, and the acting is another high point of Whitechapel, Rupert Penry-Jones is spot on, a more cold and cynical Phil Davis is perfectly cast and Steve Pemberton steals every time he's in with a performance that is both creepy and sympathetic at the same time.Overall, a gripping and quite excellent series. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Ellen Murphy If you plan on watching this drama don't do what I did and watch (especially the last episode of the three) on your own in the dark as I managed to terrify myself. The acting was superb and Rupert entry Jones was excellent as the lead. He played the main police officer in charge of the ripper murders, Joseph Chandler. This poor guy really has a lot to deal with first there is the disrespect and resentment from his fellow officers, then he has to deal with his snooty boss who doesn't believe him and then he gets blamed by the press for not acting quicker. No wonder he is constantly rubbing headache oil on his temples. A sterling performance by Jones which is reason itself to watch this. Phil Davis was also good as Chandler's second in command but at the start he did get on my nerves. The murder's themselves were very gruesome and graphic so if your squeamish then I don't recommend this. This drama is historically accurate in itself, from the information given by the Ripper expert (or Ripperologist as Miles constantly calls him)to the way the murders are carried out. There are things which are a bit far fetched such as the package containing the kidney on one of the women was sent to Miles' house and has managed to get through the entire postal service with out revealing what is inside, gets to his kitchen table and spontaneously starts bleeding. Also the amount of flashes from all the photographers in the pathology labs was ridiculous. The ripper himself was not fully revealed which was a bit disappointing but a the biggest twist was who he was posing to be and that they had met him several times where he seemed completely sane and normal. Altogether this was a great drama from ITV even if it did creep me out.

sorahl I have to disagree with the reviewer who said this was ITV at it's worst. I found the characters to be enjoyable, if somewhat predictable. I rather wish this was a prelude to a series as I would enjoy seeing the team after they had come together finally in the end. If this had been a longer series, say 6 episodes it would have been even better. They could done a lot more character development. I do admit that the last episode felt a bit rushed (which is the reason for my previous statement). Bring on more Rupert.... This was a different kind of character from his role in Spooks. A bit of stretching is always good for an actor :) how about someone from the working class next eh? :)

hebrown-4 This is something a bit different from the usual police procedural and it works very well because of the stylish and stylised direction and some great acting. The different sides of policing are painted with a broad brush but are essentially true, from the squad-room boys' club to the top brass—all management-speak plus old boys' network. Anyone who works in a company, private or public, of any scale, has seen these in action even today! Phil Davis is cast very much to type as the cynical, angry, working policeman but the twist here is that he is the one who makes major mistakes every time about the perpetrator of the crimes and the possible suspects. Steve Pemberton manages to be creepy and sympathetic at the same time.Rupert Penry-Jones' subtle and far-from-heroic presentation of the "useless" plastic fast-tracker is spot-on, as is his gradual realisation that he's out of his depth and is being cast adrift by his "puppetmasters". He's been brilliant at the slow transformation into a real investigator, going with his instincts instead of by the book. It's a very unshowy but intense and believable performance and one of his best to date. The premise is highly imaginative by its nature but the mix of factual background and stylised dramatisation is so effective because it exercises the imagination. So many people, on the net and round the water-cooler, are talking about this drama, who dunnit and how the main characters are going to pan out, whether successful or failed or shattered. That's the mark of a really successful piece of TV!