Murder - Past and Present

'Whitechapel' (ITV) blends the supernatural and the creepy with the downright ludicrous. But, it's good TV. This week's episodes had buckets of blood as the current day cops - lead by 'Spooks' star Rupert Penry-Jones (nice touch giving him OCD; wanting to establish order from chaos) and 'League of Gentleman' actor Steve Pemberton (a local historian with a keen interest in the Ripper era and before), tried to tack down a serial killer. Now, 'thetvreviewguy' has been in Whitechapel and it's still a very interesting part of London, steeped in lore (and gore). 'Whitechapel' mixes suspense and 'slasher'-cuts with a dash of comedy thrown in. By picking a real-life event (the Ratcliff Highway murders) from 200 years ago, we get a strong dose of 'faction' with a bit of the 'McGuffin' in evidence too. If you could throw in some hokum about Jack London or Lenin, both of whom are reputed to have been residents in Whitechapel, you have the makings for loads more daft plots. Quick note to the scriptwriters; there was some resemblance, most probably unintended, to a the 'X Files' episode, 'Tooms'...but, having said that, the show helped 'thetvreviewguy' forget about going back to work on Monday, and this, surely is a major scoring points for a Sunday night programme. And the best thing about 'Whitechapel' ?...No vampires! Yes, a gothic, blood-soaked, piece of television and not a fang in site! This is really raising the stakes!