The Limehouse Golem

The legend of Jack the Ripper still looms heavy, but the spectre of his possible predecessor - an even more violent and capricious murderer active in London's East End - haunts this entertaining penny dreadful-style thriller. Adapted with a gory flourish by Jane Goldman from Peter Ackroyd's fictional but wittily fact-based novel, The Limehouse Golem begins with the murder of middlebrow playwright John Cree (Sam Reid), whose actress wife Elizabeth (Olivia Cooke), deemed a money-grabbing floozy by the tabloid press, is the immediate source of suspicion. But not everyone is convinced, notably resourceful detective John Kildare (Bill Nighy), who has other ideas, and faces a race against time to save Elizabeth's neck from the hangman's noose. The result is a ripe and fun gothic romp, peppered with knowing cameos by true-life characters - Karl Marx even comes under suspicion as Kildare's investigation grows - and performed with brio by its game-for-a-dare cast, notably Douglas Booth in drag as Dan Leno, the louche and possibly duplicitous music-hall star.