Matthew Macfadyen and GOT's Jerome Flynn Talk BBC America's Ripper Street A period show with a contemporary feel. by Roth Cornet JANUARY 5, 2013 (IGN)

BBC America is set to premiere their period procedural crime drama Ripper Street beginning on January 19 (the show is already airing in the U.K.).

Set in Victorian London, the series focuses on Inspector Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen), who is haunted by the failure to catch the notorious Jack the Ripper. Reid heads up H Division, the toughest district in London’s East End, as new murder investigations bring the fear that Jack could be back. Ripper Street also stars Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones), Adam Rothenberg (Alcatraz), Myanna Buring (The Twilight Saga, White Heat) and David Dawson (Luther, Secret Diary of a Call Girl).

Series creator Richard Warlow, Executive producer Will Gould, Macfadyen, Flynn and Rothenberg were all present at today's TCA (Television Critics Association) tour to talk about the show.


Ripper Street is structured as a procedural crime drama set against London's East End, shaken in the wake of the still-at-large Jack the Ripper.

"The whole point of the show is that its about what it was like for the police at the time, the confusion and loss," said series creator Richard Warlow.

The show does not plan to create a manufactured "reveal" of who the Ripper is at its conclusion. The intent is to focus on what the failure to capture him did to do the officers who hunted the killer, and to a community that felt the need to raise civilian forces to do the work that, some felt, the officials either would not, or could not accomplish.

The idea isn't to solve the legend, but rather to, "do a period drama that delved into the bloodier/darker side of our past, rather than just people sitting around drinking tea," Warlow says.

"We will explore the aftermath into the second series, and the Ripper's presence will always be a part of our characters lives," executive producer Will Gould added.

Though it is period, what interested the creators and the cast is that the characters would actually consider themselves, "quite modern," Macfadyen says.

Adding: "They would have felt incredibly cutting edge."

"I found Reid fascinating because he’s not a stock detective character, he's a modern and forward looking man rather than a jaded copper," Macfayden says.

READ MORE: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/05/matthew-macfadyen-and-gots-jerome-flynn-talk-bbc-americas-ripper-street