- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Alison Graham
A toymaker is beaten to death and a young boy is arrested for his murder. But the decent, humane DI Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) is perturbed when the child refuses to speak in his own defence, even though he faces the gallows. It’s obvious the poor thing is protecting his brutal, Fagin-like gang-master, so Reid decides to shock him into speaking.
It’s another odd, bleak tale – imagine a cross between Oliver Twist and Luther – that almost reeks of Victorian England’s stinking streets, places where quick, sharp violence is never far away. Ripper Street is not for the faint-hearted, either; there’s an unsparing gallows scene that will make you whimper.
About this programme
2/8. A toy-maker is beaten to death for a mysterious brass box and a few pennies, with the finger of suspicion pointing to a 14-year-old boy who refuses to deny the charge. However, orphanage governess Deborah Goren convinces Reid of the boy's innocence and he begins to dig deeper, bringing him face to face with a vicious child gang and its brutal master. Meanwhile, Jackson's gambling has led to the loss of the pendant that ties him to his American past - a past he and Long Susan now fear will be exposed. Crime thriller, guest starring Joseph Gilgun (Misfits), with Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, Lucy Cohu and Myanna Buring.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Det Insp Edmund Reid
- Matthew Macfadyen
- Det Sgt Bennet Drake
- Jerome Flynn
- Cpt Homer Jackson
- Adam Rothenberg
- Long Susan
- MyAnna Buring
- Sgt Donald Artherton
- David Wilmot
- PC Dick Hobbs
- Jonathan Barnwell
- Fred Best
- David Dawson
- Rose Erskine
- Charlene KcKenna
- Emily Reid
- Amanda Hale
- Deborah Goren
- Lucy Cohu
- Carmichael
- Joseph Gilgun
- Mr Eagles
- Hugh O'Conor
- George Lusk
- Michael Smiley
- Thomas Gower
- Giacomo Mancini
- Mrs Manby
- Beverley Klein
- Ernest Manby
- David Coon
- Judge
- Pat Laffan
- Prison guard
- Andy Kellegher
- Prison chaplain
- Simon Coury
- Gang child
- David Cummins
- Victualler
- Alvaro Lucchesi
Crew
- Director
- Tom Shankland
- Producer
- Stephen Smallwood
- Writer
- Richard Warlow
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