Ripper Street: Season Two

The Whitechapel area of London—site of the notorious Jack the Ripper murders—is the locale for this BBC police series set during a period shortly after the Ripper's rampage. Like the debut season, this sophomore set cleverly mingles history and fiction, continuing the focus on the unit of Metropolitan H Division, which is headed up by Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) and Sergeant Bennet Drake (Jerome Flynn). The major story arc here concerns Reid's confrontation with Inspector Jedediah Shine (Joseph Mawle), a thoroughly corrupt cop who is parlaying a decade of experience on the Hong Kong force into taking control of the rackets in London's Chinatown—including the trade in opium and heroin. Additional narrative threads touch on subjects including eugenics, prostitution among the city's telegraph delivery boys, and Irish terrorism—which are interwoven with references to actual contemporary events such as competition between rival electrical companies, strikes by women workers, recession caused by disastrous overseas investments, and increasing occultism. Some real individuals—such as “Elephant Man” Joseph Merrick (Joseph Drake)—also make appearances. Much cynicism underlies this gritty procession of misdeeds (featuring plenty of fisticuffs), but the turbulent era is vividly brought to life, and the evocative physical production and strong cast add to Ripper Street's undeniable power. Compiling all eight episodes from 2013, extras include a “making-of” featurette. Recommended. (F. Swietek)