Ripper Street

Series one, episode six
‘Ripper Street’ continues to thrive at the centre of a Venn diagram combining two reliable primetime staples. As a formula, police procedural meets period drama was always likely to hit Sunday night paydirt and so it has proved. Not an adventurous commission, but ruthlessly efficient.

Tonight, Matthew Macfadyen’s Edmund Reid is faced with the death of a Jewish anarchist and the possible existence of a bomb factory on his turf. The trail leads right into the heart of the British government’s fight against international terrorism: our man finds himself, once more, the voice of moderation as implacable foes conduct a high stakes game of bluff and counter-bluff. So it’s handy to have an ally as shrewd and streetwise as stray American Homer Jackson on side. Not revelatory, but it does a job.