Ripper Street & Copper

Copper and Ripper Street are two BBC America series that pose essentially the same question: What would a police procedural television show look like if it were set in the 19th century? Both shows have their strengths, but, on the whole, I think Ripper Street is more successful.

Ripper Street, set in the London slum area frequented by Jack the Ripper just a few months earlier, stars Matthew Macfayden as police inspector Edmund Reid, who failed to catch the Ripper when he prowled the streets killing prostitutes. Now, the inspector, aided by stalwart Sergeant Drake (played by Jerome Flynn, who might be better known as Bronn in Game of Thrones) and American surgeon Homer Jackson (played by Adam Rothenberg), works to solve crimes that seem destined to remain unsolved, such as the case of a psychopath who killed a woman in an imitation of the Ripper and the case of a flour mill manager who wants to kill more people than the Ripper by poisoning bread.

Macfayden, as Inspector Reid, stands out as a man dedicated to getting to the truth of a case, even if that means pursuing suspects that his superiors would prefer left alone. His single-minded pursuit of justice, however, leads him to neglect his wife and alienates some of his colleagues. (By the way, Macfayden was absolutely terrific in the BBC mini-series Any Human Heart, based on the superb William Boyd novel.) His sidekick, Sgt. Drake, however, is loyal to a fault and never neglects to support him, even at the risk of his own life. Together, they form a formidable partnership of brains and brawn.

Although much of the setting is undoubtedly computer-generated, the slums of Whitechapel, with its beggars, prostitutes, drunkards, and thieves, acts as another character in the show. The level of detail is amazing as I can practically smell the stench of raw sewage and feel the soot in the eyes. Anglophiles hooked on Downton Abbey would be well served to watch this show to get a sense of “the real England,” which is certainly not the manor life of the Edwardian countryside.

In contrast to Ripper Street, Copper is set across the pond, in the Five Points slum area of New York City in 1864. It stars Tom Weston-Jones as Corky Corcoran, an Irish immigrant police sergeant who has recently served heroically in the Union Army. Although he's haunted by the memories of the daughter that died and the wife that ran away while he served, Corky is determined to see that even the poorest residents of Five Points get equal justice under the law. His former commanding officer, Robert Morehouse (played by Kyle Schmid), the scion of a wealthy family, and the black surgeon who treated him in the war, Matthew Freeman (played by Ato Essandoh), assist him in solving cases, including the threat of Confederate saboteurs infiltrating into New York City. Complicating matters for Corky is Mrs. Haverford (played by Anastasia Griffith), a beautiful widow who manipulates men into serving her own selfish needs.

The primary flaw in this series, for me, is that some of the plot twists seem gimmicky and clichéd and some of the characters are stereotypes. Corky, for example, is the typical hot-tempered but honest Irish police detective while Mrs. Haverford is the typical icy-blonde femme fatale, which means that their relationship is stormy but predictable. More interesting, I think, is the character of Matthew, a surgeon beyond ordinary competence, who continually has to prove himself because of the dark color of his skin. Too many subplots, however, leave this series feeling somewhat insubstantial, like it's not been fully developed.

I certainly don't think Copper is a bad show, but I do, however, think Ripper Street is superior.