Jack the Ripper (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = Jack the Ripper
format = Police procedural
runtime = 50 minutes
creator = Troy Kennedy Martin, Elwyn Jones
starring = Stratford Johns
Frank Windsor
country = UK
network = BBC
first_aired = July 13, 1973
last_aired = August 17, 1973
num_episodes = 6

"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.