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| Davis, Penry-Jones and Pemberton |
The third season of the British crime drama which has cops in Whitechapel solving unusual and gruesome cases consists of six episodes and three separate storylines. Ripperologist Edward Buchan (Steve Pemberton) gets a job at the police station when Deputy Inspector Joe Chandler (Rupert Penry-Jones) hires him as researcher over the objections of grizzled, pit bull-like Deputy Sergeant Ray Miles (Philip Davis). The first case has to do with multiple murders in homes and businesses where the sole survivor is always a self-absorbed female. The second story has to do with the murder and dismemberment of several women, which may be tied in to a very strange lady who lives in a cluttered, ramshackle house with her husband's preserved body in it. In the third story a "Bogey man" terrorizes the neighborhood and may be an escaped madman who has the only copy of the silent Lon Chaney film London After Midnight*. Miles keeps trying to match Chandler up with women, but it never works out. The performances are excellent, including Hannah Walters as DC Riley. The stories are quite interesting, but this business of a black cop being superstitious and so terrified of a suspect that he lets him out of jail smacks of Stepin Fetchit and is ridiculous. You can read about season one here, and season two here. *[I believe the script refers to this lost silent movie as London After Dark for some reason.]
Verdict: One hopes there will be future seasons of this show/mini-series -- perhaps with some positive black and gay characters. ***.
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