Original subtitles

(bell tolling) (horses neighing)

(tense music)

(keys clacking)

FRED: "As summer turned to autumn

the horrors piled up."

There's been a body found in Whitechapel, a woman.

- It was murder.

FRED: "Three women brutally slain.

Their mutilated bodies burnt into my mind."

It's the work of monsters. Maniacs.

- (crowd clamouring)

FRED: With police facing panic on the streets...

(commotion)

- Just put out the statement. It will all blow over soon enough.

FRED: We decorated the front page with the women's deaths.

There's been another murder!

Turning blood into profit.

- To The Star newspaper! - (laughter)

FRED: Without any evidence, we linked the murders.

- What if they were all the work of one crazed, maniacal monster?

- Have you got any idea of who it could be?

- We know him alright.

FRED: And now, we had a name.

- The newspaper world

is one of the most competitive industries there is.

You are always told be first and accurate.

- Let's get this into the last edition, boys.

- But if you can't be accurate, just at least be first.

- We are going to change the game! (laughing)

(tense music)

NEWSPAPER BOY: London gripped by fear!

Read it in The Star!

- Hello, everyone.

Gather around, gather around.

Right. So, there is a maniac on the loose.

And we now know that the suspect's alias is in fact...

...Leather Apron.

BOB: The Star were the first to print the name Leather Apron.

It was said that he was known to the sex workers

who lived in Whitechapel.

And he also had a track record of violent behaviour

and intimidation.

He was also supposedly Jewish.

(hooves clopping)

NEWSPAPER BOY: Police hunt for Leather Apron!

Wanted on the streets of Whitechapel.

Read all about it!

- If you are pointing the finger at somebody from an ethnic

minority background, you need to be really responsible.

Once the information is out there,

you have absolutely no control over it.

Because there will be thousands of people reading what you write.

- Good day, Mrs O'Connor. - Is it, Fred?

- Commissioner Warren has proved to be utterly inept as per usual.

- He is a crazy Jew, Thomas? - (he clears throat)

- Your suspect is a crazy Jew, really?

- He is of Hebrew descent, yes.

- You know exactly what I am talking about.

As an Irishman, I thought you more than anybody would understand

the dangers of whipping up such ancient and demeaning hatreds.

- No, this is different. - How? How is it different?

- Well, for starters, I haven't killed anyone.

- This is despicable.

You should all be ashamed of yourselves!

Go back to your scheming.

(tense music)

- The Star focusing in on the potential that our killer was

a Jewish man,

I would describe as irresponsible reporting.

And it could've a really serious,

detrimental effect on the investigation.

- The Star's reporting on Leather Apron was really

designed to whip up public anger.

(glass patters) (crowd clamouring)

Just like now where a tweet on social media

can bring people out onto the streets and cause riots.

And Jewish communities became the target.

- In 1888, London was changing.

You had the Jewish community coming in

living next to East London locals.

And it's extremely tribal.

MAN: Oi!

(blow thuds)

(blows thudding)

(crowd yelling)

(man groaning)

- There are people prowling the streets all over the place.

They are in Spitalfields, they are in Whitechapel.

And now I hear that they are crossing the river.

When I told you about Leather Apron I gave you many details about him.

- You did, and I gratefully relayed those details onto TP,

and that information will help catch a killer.

- So, OK, tell me why is it

that your boss fixated on the fact that he was Jewish?

Because I just don't get how that's relevant.

- As a journalist,

if you take information and turn it and make it fit your story,

that's going to come back and bite you.

- I knew that my words would get twisted,

I should have just stayed out of this.

Because the hatred going on out there

has got nothing to do with finding the person that killed these women.

- It's not our doing.

- Wow!

(door slams)

- The Leather Apron story

was causing chaos on the streets of Whitechapel.

(commotion)

And whilst the police were dealing with the riots,

the murder investigation was going nowhere.

Meaning the killer was walking free, leaving women even more vulnerable.

(muffled commotion)

- In the poorer parts of Victorian London,

it's very easy for women to find themselves on the streets.

(dog barking)

And that's exactly what happened to Annie Chapman.

(tense music sting)

Having married a coachman,

she had a relatively comfortable life.

But by 1888, Annie's husband has been dead for two years

and this means that she has got no allowance

and she's homeless and struggling.

(melancholic music)

- When you don't have a home, nor anybody to help you,

it's a very, very desolate experience.

You are society's throwaways, society's trash.

There are people who matter and people who don't.

We all know it...

...and the predators know it too.

(tense music sting)

(disembodied shrieks)

(horse neighs)

NEWSPAPER BOY: Maniac on the streets of London!

Get the latest!

(typewriters clacking) (office chatter)

(suspenseful music)

- TP, there's been another one. - Fred, get the story!

- Yes, boss. Thank you!

- It doesn't take long for word to get out that there's been a murder.

(tense music sting)

When you investigate suspicious death,

the most important step for those officers there,

preserve the crime scene and keep members of the public out.

COPPER: Get in line. Get in line!

- And if you don't get it under control,

potential evidence could be lost.

- Come see the body! Line up, people!

A penny to see the dreadful sight.

A penny a go, sir.

Thank you!

A penny a go.

(street chatter)

- Thank you.

- People have always been drawn to murder.

(crowd chatter outside)

And they want to understand it.

It's human nature to want to get closer and closer,

until you are seeing things that you will never forget.

(tense music building)

(tense music sting)

(tense music sting)

- A penny a go, sir. Best seat in the house.

Thank you very much.

(crowd clamouring)

Thank you! A penny a go! Thank you very much!

- If you have never seen the dead body of a murdered victim,

especially in horrific, grotesque killings,

you cannot understand

what Fred would have been thinking and feeling.

Now, in this situation, as the clock is ticking, you are in a race.

The press pack is right over your shoulder.

So, having a police contact was really important.

Because they would be the ones that would be giving you

the steer off the record.

- A police officer getting money from Fred Best for information,

would that surprise me?

Well, the simple answer is no.

We just have to look at modern times to see bribery going on.

- (man advertising the body)

- With the murder of Annie Chapman the police were now confronted with

another murder where the injuries were horrific.

- In Annie Chapman's case, there was more injury to the abdomen

than there was in Polly Nichol's case.

The intestines were thrown over her shoulder

and an organ was taken for the first time.

- It's not unusual that there are killers

who like to have a particular ritual that they go through.

By removing organs, they can assert their dominance,

feel like they are in control

and have possession over the victim that they have taken the life of.

(office chatter)

- TP? Ernest.

- Get this man a drink.

Come on, Fred, sit down, sit down.

Sit down, boy.

- Thank you!

- What have we got?

(shakily) The victim is called Annie Chapman. Her throat was slit.

Stomach was cut open. It was mutilation.

Her internal organs were cut out.

Heart, liver, intestines, all removed.

- Anything else? - Yes.

The police searching at the scene found that Annie's injuries

matched that of the previous victim, Polly Nichols.

The same wounds which- which must mean...

- Does mean...

...it's the same killer.

It's a confirmation. Jesus Christ!

There really is a lone maniac here.

Emma Smith was set upon by a gang.

Martha Tabram was most likely killed by a bayonet.

But Polly and Annie, two women,

both killed in the same way with the same hand.

Jesus, it's... it's incredible.

What wasn't true becomes so.

- We have to remember that the theory of a serial killer was

created by The Star to sell papers.

When the paper is describing these three murders,

Emma Smith, Martha Tabram and Polly Nichols,

it's very much a choice of The Star to tie these murders together.

- With the wounds inflicted on Mary Ann Nichols and Annie Chapman,

there were huge amounts of similarity.

But the injuries were very, very different to the preceding victims.

FERN: Now, with the death of Annie Chapman

just eight days after Polly Nichols was killed,

and less than a half a mile away,

it did indeed look like this press invention

was turning out to be true.

- To connect the dots that there is in fact a serial killer

operating in Whitechapel,

that's a really serious moment for everyone.

Everyone that is, other than the press,

who need more salacious details to titillate the public.

(typewriters clacking)

- Whitechapel's streets are now a hunting ground.

The women are the prey.

And the police seem powerless to do anything about it.

- (clicks fingers) That's it. That's how we will finish the piece.

We start a call to arms.

We tell the people of Whitechapel to get out onto the streets

and do it for themselves.

Because if the police can't catch the maniac,

well the people can do it for them.

- I like that!

- And create even more chaos for the police to deal with?

Have you considered that you may actually be hindering their work?

And what that could mean for another woman?

- What TP would be looking for is the angle of the story

that no other journalist has got.

- TP O'Connor decides to push the view that the police are incompetent

and to galvanise the community to, you know,

take the law into their own hands and become vigilantes.

- The East End people are people of action.

And all they are reading about and hearing about is the police

and the investigation going nowhere.

The Eastenders would take that as they're at war

and just take things into their own hands.

It doesn't mean that they would get it right.

It could easily fall into territory of lynching the wrong person.

- The Star did this, Fred.

You wound them up and set them on the war path.

- People will do what they want, Hen, it's not up to me.

- Is that what you really think? Is that what we are seeing?

Words have power, Fred, now more than ever.

- This would have been extremely concerning for the police.

You can't have members of the public running around

carrying out their own justice.

It not only would interfere with their investigation,

but it put lives at risk.

(tense music sting)

(knocking at door) - Enter!

This rag, The Star, is calling upon the people of Whitechapel

to take matters into their own hands.

"The police have not even a clue,

they are in despair at their utter failure

to not even get a scent of the criminal."

- They are humiliating us.

- Senior officers now drafted in

Detective Inspector Frederick Abberline.

Abberline was in a unique position

in that he was an experienced murder investigator.

But he also had a really strong knowledge of the Whitechapel area.

- Well, what about this Leather Apron? The so called "crazy Jew."

Do we know who this man is?

- John Pizer, sir. John Pizer is Leather Apron.

- Yes, we have been searching the lodging houses and casual wards

for a week now, sir, and- - Well, search harder!

Now, both of you get out there and do your duty.

- John Pizer - better known as Leather Apron -

worked as a boot maker in the Whitechapel area.

And he was always wearing a leather apron. Hence the name.

And his arrest would be at the top of Abberline and Thick's priorities.

(crowd clamouring)

At this stage, John Pizer - AKA Leather Apron -

was the best suspect they had for these crimes.

Going on the descriptions given by the girls,

he was someone known to use aggressive behaviour

and carry a knife.

Having been searching for over a week,

and despite several sightings of Leather Apron,

the police eventually got a tip off that he was staying with family

at 22 Mulberry Street.

Now, he was within the police's grasp.

(crowd clamouring)

- When you consider John Pizer's previous records,

his predatory nature towards women, his behaviours,

the fact that he was proficient in terms of using a knife,

he fits the bill for a potential suspect.

(crowd clamouring)

- Fuck you too!

(copper giving orders)

- When the police arrest John Pizer,

everyone would have been really praying and hoping

that we're going to put an end to it now.

We are going to stop these crimes.

Everyone that is, other than the press.

(crowd clamouring) (grunting)

(dog barking)

(hooves clopping)

- I was beginning to have my doubts about your editorship, Tay Pay, but

you have turned the ship around.

This means that your next challenge will be

maintaining this level of sales for, um, well, forever.

- (inhales) Well, forever might be a bit of a stretch.

But until the end of the century perhaps. (chuckles)

- The amount of pressure that somebody like TP would be under

from the owners of the paper would be huge.

They are looking at the newspaper sales every single day.

That editor knows he has to come out on top.

- The paper's backers couldn't possibly have dreamt of the kind

of numbers they were now seeing.

The paper was now selling around about 260,000 copies a day.

That was 90,000 more than just a few days earlier.

But in the cutthroat world of Victorian journalism,

you couldn't live on past triumphs.

- Your, um, methods...

You are a bit of a rabble rouser.

- A rabble rouser? Whatever do you mean?

- Your editorial angle.

The crazy Jew, vigilante mobs, attacking the police.

Let's not upset the natural order of things too much.

Do you understand what I am saying?

- (takes deep breath)

- For an editor like TP,

the highs that come with the success of getting the exclusive

are very short-lived.

- At this stage,

John Pizer was the best suspect The Star had for these crimes.

But now, John Pizer had an alibi.

Leather Apron is not the killer.

BOY: Leather Apron walks free! Get your morning papers!

- (he grunts)

How the hell could the police release John Pizer so quickly?

He was only in custody a day.

- And there is something else.

While we were not able to speak to Pizer,

it seems he did speak to the Associated Press.

- Oh, for fuck's sake.

- TP. Not good.

- What does it say?

- He's threatening legal action, and he might just win it.

- When you're pointing the finger at someone

and you are accusing them of murder, you had better be right.

Because if you are wrong, you are going to lose.

And you are going to lose big.

And the sums involved in a defamation or libel case

could bring down a paper.

- If you have been hounded by the press,

what are you going to do?

Most people are going to seek libel damages

and that's exactly what Pizer does.

He's determined that The Star

is going to pay for what they have done to him.

- My name is John Pizer, and you have wronged me.

(tense music sting)

BOY: Buy a copy of The Star! Get The Star!

- Alex, it's alright. Thank you.

Mr Pizer, I don't think this is the right time or place.

- Do you have any idea what you have done?

- My family has been abused. My business is ruined.

My name is now tarnished forever by your lies and distortions.

I will have my day in court. - (stuttering)

- I will have justice.

- C-Come on, man. D-Don't do that.

Let's work together.

I mean, what would satisfy you? 50 pounds?

- A hundred.

- Oh, come on, be serious, man, 50 pounds is more than generous.

- I said a hundred!

- One moment, please.

- John Pizer, being accused of the Whitechapel murders,

once you are tarred, it would be impossible to go back.

You know, like no smoke without fire.

- 50 pounds.

Now, I am sure Pall Mall Gazette would be

more than willing to give you the other half.

That is if they allow you to darken their door in the first place.

Not everyone is as kind-hearted as I am, you see.

If you will excuse me, I have a news floor to run.

Come on, back to work, everybody.

- To have such a dangerous libel claim put towards The Star

would risk their entire business.

So, The Star is very, very lucky

that Pizer accepts this 50 pounds.

- If you are going to name someone as a killer

and you have got it wrong,

attention and focus is diverted away from the actual killer,

and you are allowing them to continue killing.

(tense music sting)

HENRIETTA: Frederick.

Fred!

- Yeah, sorry, love. I'm miles away.

- It's certainly left it's mark on you, hasn't it?

- What has?

- Well, what do you think I am talking about?

- Go on then, spit it out.

- I still feel sick

about the muck and the hatred that your paper's spread.

Did you ever really think it was John Pizer?

Or did his face just fit?

This isn't the Fred I know. - (he scoffs)

- The Fred I know had morals and was decent and honest with himself.

(footsteps receding) (door opens, slams shut)

(Fred sighs)

(hooves clopping)

(TP sighs)

- With the release of John Pizer,

O'Connor and The Star are back to square one.

The reality is there is no longer a tangible

candidate for the sole killer.

The Star had totally lost focus now.

There is a very big danger that they are going to lose the story,

lose the momentum.

- Sir?

- TP?

- Yes. (clears throat)

You know you could...

You could look around this room and you could...

...comfort yourself by what you see, but that would be a mistake.

The well is drying up, boys. Sales are down.

What are you going to do?

- Surely, we just- we just wait. You can't control a killer.

- Why not, Best?

I only have a need of people who think big.

Do you think big?

- Of course. - Good.

Then fetch some paper and a pen and some ink.

Preferably red ink. Bring it in here.

(ominous music)

- TP was at a real crossroads now.

There hadn't been a killing for several weeks.

He needed a new suspect.

But he also had to be careful.

He got burnt with Leather Apron. He got it wrong.

He couldn't make that mistake again.

- Now, you may not be able to control the killer.

But can you make him speak?

We're going to write a letter.

- A let- A letter? Who to? - All will become clear. Fred.

(ominous music)

Now, remember...

...think big. Hm?

Big.

That's my boy, Fred.

Make him speak, Fred.

Make him speak.

- When you're desperate and casting around for any information,

you could be persuaded to take any new leads seriously.

Even when it comes as a bolt from the blue,

maybe a random piece of intel or even a letter.

The police need a break.

- To make something up to keep the story alive, to sell papers,

it is so far beyond the line of morality within journalism.

Once they make this decision, there is no way back from that.

- "Dear Boss, I keep on hearing the police have caught me.

But they won't fix me just yet.

I have laughed when they look so clever

and talk about being on the right track.

That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits."

- Good lad, Fred.

- TP O'Connor and his reporters have crossed the Rubicon as it were.

They are now on a very, very, very dangerous path.

- Soon after the Dear Boss letter

was delivered at the Central News Agency,

it was sent to the police.

When TP and Fred forged this letter, they were inserting themselves

right into the centre of the investigation.

They were no longer reporters,

they were potentially fabricating evidence.

- "I am down on whores, and I shan't quit ripping them

until I do get buckled.

The next job I do I shall...

...clip the lady's ears off

and send to the police officers

just for jolly. Wouldn't you?

My knife is so nice and sharp, I want to get to work right away.

Good luck.

Yours truly, Jack the Ripper."

- The Dear Boss letter is a pivotal moment

in the invention of the Ripper.

This after all is the first time that the name

Jack the Ripper is used.

- If I were in Frederick Abberline's position,

having just seen and received the Dear Boss letter,

you have to approach it with an open mind.

Could it be from the killer?

Even if in your own mind you are doubtful,

you have to follow that lead.

- If this letter hadn't been written,

if it hadn't given the killer a name,

I think it's unlikely we would still be talking about it

over 130 years later.

- What are you thinking, sir?

- I am uncertain. It could be a hoax.

Either way, let's keep the letter of the public domain... for now.

- This was a potential line of enquiry.

But the real killer was still out there free to kill again.

And looking for his next victim.

(tense music sting)

- That's it. In you come.

(grunts) Drunk and disorderly,

found laying on the footway on Aldgate High Street.

Come on. (grunts)

(tense music sting)

- Catherine Eddowes, known as Kate,

was incredibly down on her luck and she is often on the streets.

And reliant on alcohol.

- What you are really tyring to do

when you drink alcohol is create psychological distance.

If you can't escape physically,

well then you escape mentally.

This offers that escape to women.

- Let's get you signed in and you can sleep it off.

Name?

- Nothing.

- Being homeless, there is the sensation

that you're very much outside of society.

- I have got a room for you.

- That you are living in a society that doesn't recognise you

as having any worth or value.

- Now, just prop yourself up there.

- People would ask, "How would you keep going?"

Well, I would say, "What's the alternative?"

(tense music sting)

(bell tolling)

(pub chatter)

- Elizabeth Stride is a Swedish immigrant

and in Sweden, she had been a sex worker.

But at some point, she'd made the choice to seek a new life in London.

She meets a man and falls in love. And they open a coffee house.

This is a real change from the life that she left in Sweden.

Unfortunately, the business fails.

After her husband's death, she's really, really struggling

and she's forced back into sex work.

- Prostitution is always a gamble in my experience.

The idea that a woman gets to choose is a lie.

No they don't. They never have, they never will.

That's not how prostitution works.

(pub chatter)

- Looking for some fun?

RACHEL: Women in the sex trade train themselves not to feel.

They dissociate.

Distancing yourself is just simply necessary.

- I don't charge by the minute.

- Let's go.

- But you're still aware that you don't know who you are dealing with

until you are alone with that man.

- (inmate humming)

(dogs barking)

- When are you going to let me out of this hole?

- When you are capable of looking after yourself.

- Then you can let me out right now.

- (he sighs) (keys jangle)

(door unlocking)

- Thank you.

- There is something about vulnerability that kind of like,

it's like there's a... an alarm above your head or something.

You know, predators can see you.

They can clock vulnerability.

- (humming)

- They know what they are looking for

and they see it in you.

(ominous music)

(tense music sting)

(disembodied shrieks)

- Fred!

Fred! Someone is there!

- (Fred sighs)

There's nothing, go to sleep. (something clangs)

- (breathing shakily)

OK. You stay here, yeah?

(door creaks)

(door creaks)

(tense music)

(tense music swelling)

(tense music sting)

- (Fred gasps)

What do you want, Titch?

- The butcher has been busy tonight.

- Where's the body?

(coins jangle)

- Well, that depends. - On what?

- Which one.

(ominous music)

Dutfield's Yard.

- Dutfield's Yard.

(suspenseful music)

- On the 30th of September 1888,

two murders occurred

within the space of about an hour of each other.

Which became known as the Double Event.

(music swells, peaks, softens)

- (panting)

He's struck again. - Yeah.

Except this time he just slashed her from ear to ear and ran off.

- Just after midnight in Dutfield Yard

Elizabeth Stride was attacked and murdered.

- Elizabeth Stride's injuries were essentially

throat cut from left to right

in the manner that we are starting to become familiar with

through the earlier deaths.

But there were no abdominal injuries.

It is quite possible that someone returning home on his pony and cart

interrupted the killer.

- This is someone who gets a great deal of satisfaction from maiming.

And the more someone engages in an act like this,

the more they fantasise.

The more they think about what they would like to be

able to do to the body.

And so, feeling that frustration from not having the time he wanted

to have with that person earlier, he then seeks a second victim.

(ominous music)

- Where is the other woman?

Oh. (coins jangle)

- Mitre Square. It's carnage. Blood everywhere.

Come on, move on.

Nothing to see here.

(suspenseful music)

(crowd clamouring)

- Jesus Christ!

- Shortly after the murder of Elizabeth Stride,

Catherine Eddowes was murdered within a space of a mile.

- With the death of Catherine Eddowes

the intestines were removed from the abdomen

and part of the kidney was taken.

But in addition to that, she also had facial wounds as well,

which were a new feature.

- To do something that is so brutal, so barbaric, to another human being

just shows the anger that this person has been harbouring.

And I think, for me,

this goes back to the fact that he has a deep hatred towards women.

He wants to mutilate the female internal organs

and the genitalia of the victims.

He's taking everything away from them that makes them female

including their beauty.

- The night of the Double Event

was a significant moment for the investigation.

Multiple people claimed to have seen Liz Stride and Catherine Eddowes.

And importantly, claim to have seen the killer

underneath the streetlamps.

Witness descriptions suggest a man in his 30s

with fair complexion and a moustache.

A significant step forward,

but describes many thousands of men in London at that time.

(chatter, sobbing)

- Commissioner Warren, can I get a comment for The Star?

- Hey! No, no, no, no, no.

- Despite the growing body count, Charles Warren was somebody

who would stay locked away in his office.

If he were to turn up at a crime scene,

you knew there was something else going on.

BOB: Whilst utterly horrific,

the Double Event of 30th of September

was meat and drink to The Star.

- I have given you enough.

This new story was really now underpinning

the success of the paper.

This was almost a licence for them to print money.

(office chatter)

- Ernest!

- Gosh, you look a sight. - So would you, read that.

- Jesus Christ!

How did he do all that to her without being seen?

- And twice. Two.

The police reckoned he was disturbed,

so he found another victim. And listen to this...

...he cut her fucking ear off, Ernest.

- What?

- Just like we said he would in the letter.

- "The next job I do I shall...

...clip the lady's ears off."

- My God! W-What are the chances?

- In the Dear Boss letter,

they created this threat to cut off ladies' ears.

What is so interesting is that Catherine Eddowes murder,

we know one of her ears was tampered with.

And there was certainly a feeling in the police, at the time,

that this connected the Dear Boss letter to her murder.

- If somebody is purporting to be the killer

and communicating with the police,

they will be looking for content, evidence within that communication

that potentially only the killer would know.

- And one more thing, I saw Warren at Mitre Square.

He left in a hurry just as I got there.

- What was the old bastard up to?

- I don't know. But it looked off.

- Keep digging. - Yeah.

(phone rings)

- What's going on?

- TP, it's good stuff.

The killer has only gone and cut one of the women's ears off.

TP: The police will have to think our letter is genuine now.

ERNEST: And what if they don't?

- Well, we'll just have to encourage them, won't we?

You can tell Fred he needs to write another letter.

(chuckling)

- TP, they are publishing the letters.

- It would have been a really explosive moment;

the world learns the name Jack the Ripper.

- What a name! I mean, it sells itself.

- If this truly is the work of the Ripper,

perhaps he's just made his first mistake.

- You know I am not a killer. You know I am not Jack, right?

- You do realise if they find out it was you, you are a dead man.

- A message had been written on the wall in chalk.

Warren had them wash it off. - This is it.

This is the story we could take them down with.

- (laughing)

- To hell with the fucking truth, is that it, TP?

- There is only one of us here with red ink on their hands, Fred.

(ominous music)

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