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I've been relistening to the commentary on the Anchor Bay Special Edition DVD of the 1988 Michael Caine drama Jack the Ripper with director/writer/producer David Wickes and researcher, Sue Davies.
Both Wickes and Davies are quite insistent that the then embargoed Ripper files were being systematically gutted of information by people unknown prior to their public release. Conducting research for the drama, the production team had been granted privileged prior access to the files and Sue Davies states that this removal of information was still happening during the time that she was researching their contents. Things that were there one visit had vanish the next. They also keep reiterating the point that because the files were embargoed for 100 years, the identity of the Ripper must have been known and had to be someone of some note as there would have been no point locking them away for a century otherwise.
What are people's thoughts about this? Is there any evidence that vast swathes of material had being removed from the files?
Wickes is also quite scathing about various Ripper researchers, saying that he fell out with many of them (he only names Dan Farson), complaining that they really hadn't done any proper research into the case. Do we know who Wickes fell out with other than Farson?
Richard
Both Wickes and Davies are quite insistent that the then embargoed Ripper files were being systematically gutted of information by people unknown prior to their public release. Conducting research for the drama, the production team had been granted privileged prior access to the files and Sue Davies states that this removal of information was still happening during the time that she was researching their contents. Things that were there one visit had vanish the next. They also keep reiterating the point that because the files were embargoed for 100 years, the identity of the Ripper must have been known and had to be someone of some note as there would have been no point locking them away for a century otherwise.
What are people's thoughts about this? Is there any evidence that vast swathes of material had being removed from the files?
Wickes is also quite scathing about various Ripper researchers, saying that he fell out with many of them (he only names Dan Farson), complaining that they really hadn't done any proper research into the case. Do we know who Wickes fell out with other than Farson?
Richard
The DVD sounds 'fun' though- amazon job ??
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