One hundred years on from the real events, in 1988, we got this hotly anticipated TV mini-series from Euston Films. Starring Michael Caine as Inspector Abberline (in a rare TV outing) and former 'Professional' Lewis Collins as his sidekick George Godley, it was a glossy and watchable retelling of the Jack the Ripper story as we knew it then.
Seeing it again today, it still stands up well - Caine and Collins make a good teaming, and there's plenty of period charm. The external street sets built at Pinewood still look impressive, and there's a host of familiar faces in the supporting cast.
In this first episode, we get into the action pretty fast with the first murder established in the opening minutes, and see a drunken Abberline pressed into service to head the murder hunt.
We now know that many of the women murdered weren't actually prostitutes at all, but were painted as such to somehow make their gruesome murders more 'acceptable'.
This is a lively and entertaining first half of the story that sets the scene well, and keeps the police (and the audience) guessing.
Seeing it again today, it still stands up well - Caine and Collins make a good teaming, and there's plenty of period charm. The external street sets built at Pinewood still look impressive, and there's a host of familiar faces in the supporting cast.
In this first episode, we get into the action pretty fast with the first murder established in the opening minutes, and see a drunken Abberline pressed into service to head the murder hunt.
We now know that many of the women murdered weren't actually prostitutes at all, but were painted as such to somehow make their gruesome murders more 'acceptable'.
This is a lively and entertaining first half of the story that sets the scene well, and keeps the police (and the audience) guessing.