Jack the Ripper (TV series)

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Jack the Ripper
Format	Police procedural
Created by	Troy Kennedy Martin, Elwyn Jones
Starring	Stratford Johns Frank Windsor
Country of origin	UK
No. of episodes	6
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC
Original run	July 13, 1973 – August 17, 1973

Jack the Ripper is a six-part BBC television drama made in 1973, in which the case of the Jack the Ripper murders is reopened and analysed by Detective Chief Inspectors Barlow and Watt (Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor, respectively). These characters were hugely popular with UK TV viewers at the time from their appearances on the long-running police series Z Cars and its sequels Softly, Softly and Barlow at Large. The programme was presented partly as a discussion between the two principals in the present day, interspersed with dramatised-documentary scenes set in the 19th century. The experiment was seen to be a success, and the formula was repeated in 1976 with Second Verdict, in which Barlow and Watt cast their gaze over miscarriages of justice and unsolved mysteries from the past.

The series aired in six episodes, as follows

13 Jul 1973 The First Two

20 Jul 1973 Double Event

27 Jul 1973 Butchery

03 Aug 1973 Panic

10 Aug 1973 Suspects

17 Aug 1973 The Highest in the Land?

Jack the Ripper was made available for syndication, and was televised in the United States in 1974 with additional footage of actor Sebastian Cabot providing introductions and recaps. This was done to provide additional running time to fill U.S. programming slots, and perhaps to give the show something of a Masterpiece Theatre atmosphere.