Ripper Street starts tonight (30th Dec) on UK TV (BBC1)

[Sally]

Some 13 years I believe.

I thought it was a bit better this week.

[Limehouse]

I'm not sure I'm going to carry on watching this. It's OK, but to me it comes across as a bit of a cheap Dickensian-type production with little attention paid to accuracy, as has been mentioned re the teddy bear and the interpretation of George Lusk. It's all kind of 'cor blimey' and I keep expecting the cast to break into 'Um papa, Um papa'.

Am I being mean?

[DrummondStreet]

It runs Law & Order: UK, too, but out of order-- I mean, out of order for the UK, which is already out of order, in that the US episodes they are adapting are not in order, they just sort of random select from the 20 years of the US show. But the order that is broadcast here is not some attempt to broadcast them in US order. It's sort of jarring, really.

Have you been watching the entire UK series? Are all of the UK plot lines lifted from the American Law & Order. It seems that way to me. I stopped watching it after realizing that I already knew the ending to every single episode. I was really disappointed. The acting of many of the guest actors leaves a bit to be desired, too. It just isn't as strong as the original series.

[richardnunweek]

Hi,
What a load of trifle ..
Why was the Ripper never caught, with superhuman police officers like portrayed?
As stated by Limehouse, the Dickensian style is abundant, and accuracy is poor. we are left with the slimy/grotesque baddies, with incredible strength, and a host of extras, wavering clubs.
Even the females process incredible martial art abilities.
I appreciate this series is shown after nine, and it is out to shock with its almost ''play-station mode, but it annoys me...[ as you may guess].
Regards Richard.

[Sally]

Its that kind of entertainment that's a bit like fast food - absorbing at the time but ultimately empty and soon forgotten..

I like it

[Steve S]

It's fun if you remember it's based on the Discworld City Watch.........

[RivkahChaya]

Have you been watching the entire UK series? Are all of the UK plot lines lifted from the American Law & Order. It seems that way to me. I stopped watching it after realizing that I already knew the ending to every single episode. I was really disappointed. The acting of many of the guest actors leaves a bit to be desired, too. It just isn't as strong as the original series.

I am, at least, all them that have aired on BBCA, which looking at IMDb seems to be all of them.

The endings are different sometimes, but never for the better, in my opinion. The British writers don't seem to like the ambiguity that was the hallmark of the original show. In a lot of episodes, even after the guilty party is convicted, you're still left with "there was a lot of guilt to go around, here."

Also, there always has to be a motive, no matter how convoluted, or melodramatic, especially when mothers kill their children. The mother has to have some background of horrible abuse, or is trying to spare her child from something no one else knew about. Mothers never just kill their children, not even single mothers who are exhausted, or women with post-partum depression.

Heroin addicts are evil. That seems to be the one exception to mothers needing a special reason to kill children. Mothers who are heroin addicts will do it, because they are evil. Any character in the US version who is a heroin addict, and morally ambiguous, or even trying to go straight, but having trouble getting into rehab (which with our healthcare system can be a nightmare; you either pay outrageously for private care, have insurance that pays for it, or sit for months and months on a waiting list for a free clinic) is evil in the UK version, or not a heroin addict.

Homeless people are good and special in the UK version-- "noble savages," or something. There are plenty of nice homeless people in the US version, but homeless characters run the same continuum of nice to nasty as any other people do, and there are a few episodes where there are homeless people who are really nasty. Those have been drastically rewritten to make the homeless character almost saintly.

For practical purposes, episodes with gun crimes have to be rewritten. Either the gun crime has to be something else, or there has to be a backstory about how the criminal came to have a gun. That's all perfectly understandable, but it bogs down the drama.

Now, I understand that I'm not the target audience for the show, and maybe the US show is often confusing for UK viewers.

How many UK posters have seen both shows? or at any rate, have seen the UK show and liked it? Maybe I should start a "pub talk" thread about the differences.

If UK posters have access to Netflix, right now, the US Netflix have the first seven seasons of the US show for viewing, so possibly the Netflix you can view does as well. Amazon and iTunes have the whole thing for purchase, either by season, or by episode, and there are also tons of sites where you can view it for free, but you didn't hear that from me.

[Bridewell]

Episode 3 just starting on BBC1

[Bridewell]

Elements of the torso killer in this one?

[Sally]

I think it gets better as it goes along - it was good tonight.
Although... Was that Battersea Power Station I glimpsed in the opening scenes? A little early...

[Bridewell]

I think it gets better as it goes along - it was good tonight.
Although... Was that Battersea Power Station I glimpsed in the opening scenes? A little early...

Hi Sally,

I didn't spot that, but I thought that, by the end, the City of London Inspector's facial scratches had moved from the right side of his face to the left - unless I imagined that.

I thought it was good though, possibly because we're getting to know the characters a bit better.

[Sally]

Hi Colin

I didn't spot that, but I thought that, by the end, the City of London Inspector's facial scratches had moved from the right side of his face to the left - unless I imagined that.

I thought it was good though, possibly because we're getting to know the characters a bit better.

Really? I didn't notice that!

It has its flaws - but I'm beginning to feel that those are fairly minor - all in all, its turning out to be a lot better than I expected.

[Bridewell]

Hi Colin

Really? I didn't notice that!

It has its flaws - but I'm beginning to feel that those are fairly minor - all in all, its turning out to be a lot better than I expected.

I think so too. I'm still mystified as to why they called the lead character Edmund Reid and then said that he wasn't based on the real detective of the same name. It's a good series though overall, despite the flaws.

[Cogidubnus]

So who noticed the identity of the song being performed on stage when the police entered the somewhat dubious transvestite club?

All the best

Dave

[Observer]

Hi Bridewell

Not only did the scratches move from the left side of the face to the right they also returned to the left side again. And below a photo of Frances Coles the name Polly Nichols appeared, implying it was her in the photograph.

Regards

Observer