Jack the Ripper (1973 TV series)

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Jack the Ripper is a six-part BBC police procedural made in 1973, in which the case of the Jack the Ripper murders is reopened and analysed by Detective Chief Superintendents Barlow and Watt (Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor, respectively). These characters were hugely popular with UK TV viewers at the time from their appearances on the long-running police series Z-Cars and its sequels Softly, Softly and Barlow at Large. The programme was presented partly as a discussion between the two principals in the present day, interspersed with dramatised-documentary scenes set in the 19th century. The series discusses suspects and conspiracies, but concludes there is insufficient evidence to determine who was Jack the Ripper. The experiment was seen to be a success, and the formula was repeated in 1976 with Second Verdict, in which Barlow and Watt cast their gaze over miscarriages of justice and unsolved mysteries from the past.

Jack the Ripper

Created by	Troy Kennedy Martin Elwyn Jones
Written by	Elwyn Jones John Lloyd
Starring	Stratford Johns Frank Windsor
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	13 July – 17 August 1973

Stratford Johns as DCS Charlie Barlow
Frank Windsor as DCS John Watt
Gordon Christie as Inspector Abberline
Hugo De Vernier as Albert Cadoche
Christopher Fenwick as John Richardson
Chris Gannon as Timothy Donovan
Gabrielle Hamilton as Mrs. Richardson
Basil Henson as Sir Charles Warren
Julie May as Mrs Fiddymont
Geoffrey Rose as Dr. Bagster Phillips
Rosalind Ross as Elizabeth Long
Hilary Sesta as Catherine Eddowes
Peter Spraggon as Sergeant Thicke
Varley Thomas as Emily Holland
Kenneth Thornett as PC Neil
Gabor Vernon as Louis Diemschütz
Wendy Williams as Mrs Barnett
Geoffrey Lumsden as editor of the Daily Telegraph

Jack the Ripper was made available for syndication. It was first distributed by 20th Century-Fox Television, in cooperation with Metromedia.^[7]

When televised in the United States, it featured Sebastian Cabot as host-narrator, and was broadcast variably using the title The Whitechapel Murders or the original Jack the Ripper.^[8]^[9]

The series was also adapted into a book titled The Ripper File authored by series script writers Elwyn Jones and John Lloyd.^[10] The 1979 film Murder by Decree, starring Christopher Plummer as Sherlock Holmes investigating the Whitechapel murders, was based on The Ripper File.^[11]

^ "Television". The Guardian. London. 13 July 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Television". The Guardian. London. 20 July 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Television". The Guardian. London. 27 July 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Television". The Guardian. London. 3 August 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Television". The Guardian. London. 10 August 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Television". The Guardian. London. 17 August 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Century Theatre (print ad)" (PDF). Broadcasting. 21 May 1973. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
^ Newton, Dwight (7 October 1973). "Video with Dwight Newton: The week's new shows - it's a crime". Sunday Scene. The San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle. p. 16. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Bailey, Marilyn (10 March 1974). "Jack the Ripper is back". TV Week. Minneapolis Tribune. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 30 March 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jones, Elwyn; Lloyd, John. The Ripper File: The documentary investigation by Detective Chief Superintendents Charles Barlow and John Watt. Arthur Barker. ISBN 0213165368. LCCN 75328051. OCLC 1464278.
^ Bob Clark (director) (1979). Murder by Decree (Motion picture). London: AVCO Embassy Pictures. OCLC 472353182. Based on 'The Ripper File' by John Lloyd and Elwyn Jones

Jack the Ripper at IMDb