Ripper Street Makes for Great Viewing
595752
Ripper Street is to London what Deadwood was to the Old West or Copper was to New York.  This is a detective story that follows the typical BBC series pattern and acting.  It's good, though and something enjoyable to watch.

There are numerous similarities between Ripper Street and Copper.  They both involve 19th Century forensics, a stoic main character and the lesser elements (people) of the era.
805053
Amazing that this is on TV.  The scenes, costumes and beautiful vistas are enough to bring the viewer back, the stories are riveting.
3815879
The mini series is beautifully made and Alan Delon's performance is as great as ever before.  The location is beautiful.  The story is interesting and plots move along very fast and gripping.  All main characters are well established.  A totally enjoyable experience.  Worth watching it again and again.  Yes, I have it in my DVD collection.
4631021
If you like stories in the 1880s about police using intuition,and how they used to have to prove the science behind solving crimes because they did not have the tools they have now, then you will love this show.  It is a man ahead of his time with a story and secrets of his own.  He is an honorable man which was hard to find during that era.  Many of the police there in White Chapel on the East End of London have great background stories, and it keeps you interested in the show.  The show starts off immediately after the Ripper murders, and is pretty accurate with how the police blamed every murderer caught afterwards for the Ripper murders and tried to tie them in.  Great show.
3817834
The whole series is as comforting as an old sweater on a cold winter evening in front of the fire. Midsomer's population is now one tenth of what is was before this series began...there have been so many murders that I think even Tom Barnaby and all three of his sergeants in the series have counted. This series brings to light the quality of British television and if anyone ever tries to say the US has a Monopoly on good television...take an evening and watch Midsomer Murders The light hearted dry humor, the clues along the way, and the banter between Tom, his wife and daughter (now married and gone away), George the long-time forensics expert (through out the entire series), and some of the usual suspects are bright spots in the story-telling. The beacon and the foundation is Tom Barnaby, a tough-as-nails CI (Chief Investigator), with a soft center like a good chocolate. The gruesome (no splatter) murders, and the way the story unravels the clues in front of your eyes without giving away the, often, surprising ending will constantly entertain you, and keep you wishing that you might consider yourself lucky to have become a fan of this long-standing top shelf drama. It just doesn't get any better than this program for a Who-Done-It. The countryside vistas will remind you of All Creatures Great and Small (with Robert Hardy), and the quaint little English villages make you wish you could buy a ticket to spend your next Bank Holiday traveling to all corners of the County of Midsomer. The churches alone, highlighted in many episodes are simple and magnificent to the eye. This program is candy for the brain, and easy on the eye, and a joy to relax with on any afternoon or evening. Enjoy and behold the Spot-On pleasure of a top-quality program, great acting (you sometimes can't tell if John Nettles is acting at all!), and another body on the moor to keep the team jumping and you guessing.
2611067
My wife and I watched this excellent series on BBC 2 when we were living in London for a couple of years recently.  It's absolutely superb.  Essential viewing for anyone with an even passing interest in the British Isles (lots of Irish stuff too).  Makes you want to get up and drive, or now fly - over there and check out the amazing ports, cliffs and islands.  We will be buying this set as soon as it is available.
570480
I'm very glad I came across "Traffic in Souls" because I thoroughly enjoyed it and was surprised how very good and entertaining such an early feature film could be.  Not only is it an excellent crime drama in itself, it has special significance for its adventurous exposure of the real-life crime problem at that time, namely white slave traffic.  The film depicts the various ways in which innocent young women were tricked and abducted, then held captive in a "den of iniquity" for the slavery market.  Emigrants arriving in New York were targeted, as were naive women from the country, and even a shop assistant who falls victim to the charms of one of the operators.  Another true-to-life aspect emphasized in this film is that the "man higher up" in the racket is a prominent and honorable member of society who pretends to be taking the lead in ridding the city of white slave trafficking.  The film also gives us a closer, more personal look into the lives of the two families involved, making it much more than just a crime story about the cops getting the bad guys in the end.  Another fascinating aspect, I found, was the means by which the main members of the operation where ultimately convicted, namely by recording their conversations with the latest technology of the time; the phonograph recording.  Futhermore, the film quality is very good throughout, and the new piano musical score by Philip Carli is also excellent, making this a really worth while film to add to any good movie collection.
3478830
Have been a fan of Midsomer Murders, after viewing 2 seasons in UK. Each episode introduces new and fascinating characters, and the recurring ones become old friends very quickly. The villages where the stories are filmed are a wonderful added attraction to the mysteries- it's like taking a tour of British countryside. Each time I replay an episode I enjoy it more and more. Combining 4 series into one collection was an excellent idea and a cost effective means of enjoying great mysteries. Expect to purchase more collections in the future.
3396914
Blue Murder is so accurate and well acted, it could almost be classed as a documentary. It explores the true life close ties between organised crime and the police in Sydney, Australia from the 1970s through the 1980s. The outrageous behaviour is mesmerising and the characters, both good and bad, are compelling. It's well cast, well written and well acted.  Blue Murder is for anyone who enjoys the stories from the seedier side of society, but doesn't necessarily need their characters to speak with American accents.
3600334
I saw Sherlock Holmes at my local theater and immediatley loved it. There is only one word to describe this film and that word is "brilliant".

The story takes place in Victorian England with a young detective named sherlock Holmes (Robert Downing Jr.) and his doctor named Watson. The film picks up at a mysterious temple in wich a human sacrifice is taking place. Luckely for the one being sacrificed Holmes, Watson, and the police come just in time to stop the killing.  The sacrifice was being performed by a devil-worshipper known as Lord Blackwood.  Blackwood is immediatley arrested and brought to trial for the murder of several women. He is sentenced to death and is hung. Later they bring the body to Watson and he pronounces Blackwood dead. But several days later a witness sees Blackwood rise from the grave in the local graveyard. Blackwood continues his killings and his powers are rapidly inflicting fear on the people of England. He plans to use this fear in order to in a way take over the world. Luckely Sherlock Holmes is such a brilliant detective that he can notice every minor detail in this case.

I highly recommend this movie. It is action-packed, frightning, and even hilarious. Although you my need to see the movie more than once, the plot is very difficult to grasp.
2957955
Foyle is awesome for lovers of Mrs Marple style mystery. Well worth the watch.
4778403
I've watched only two episodes so far, but both have been exciting. The show is set in modern day England complete with solicitors and barristers. (Yes. There is a difference.) Without giving too much away, I will say a high-minded and competent barrister successfully defends a brutal alleged murderer. As the first episode ends, there is another event which twists the plot in a new direction. I am looking forward to watching the ensuing episodes.
4716137
I am thoroughly enjoying this series. The setting of WWWII and the challenges people faced during that time are revealed a little as this detective investigates homicides. The character development progresses slowly and gradually. I have been drawn to them and appreciate their British ways.  Nice to watch a who dun it mystery without the twisted sick details of stories told about current day.
3058442
A wonderful change of pace in British Drama. London--Fleet Street shown in it's news days, when the street was teeming with reporters and photographers scurrying after the scoop. Each episode is a different story with a surprise ending. The news team observed is the gossip page: "Lytton's Diary". It takes about a half dozen reporters to publish the daily page of gossip and Lytton (Peter Bowles) is their leader.

Several guest stars are included like: Edward Hardwicke (Sherlock Holmes); John Hallman (The Pallisers-truly great series); Mel Martin (Love for Lydia); & Trevor Peacock (Vicar of Dibley).

The series having originally run in 1985-86 gives it a bit of a period feel. Fun. A newsroom teeming with electric typewriters and 2-tone (green/gray) dial phones. Afro-blond hair for a do. Also, due to age, the picture sometimes appears a bit over-exposed (an 80's film quirk I've seen before) so I cut back a 1/4 star as a result. Actually, outdoor scenes looks like London fog, smoke in the many pub sets, and oh, the shower scene. After getting involved in the interesting stories, it is forgotten. The absence of subtitles earned a decrease by just 1/4 star. It's helpful for us older folks, but we still enjoyed this series, without script. That leave "Lytton's DIARY" a SOLID 4 1/2 stars for almost ten hours of viewing (12 episodes).

You may experience some disappointment at the end of the last episode when you realize you have just watch the COMPLETE COLLECTION of "Lytton's Diary". You will want more.

Episode details for those that like more:
1 Rabid Dingo:Shock Horror--Lytton seeks 'mud' to fling & write about an Aussie Tycoon buying up a newspaper. By chance, Lytton gets a step ahead.
2 Daddy's Girls--Bankers, daughters, producers and Lytton makes an interesting mix. Without scruples, Lytton gets a scoop.
3 The Lady in the Mask--Something is needed to get the Lytton's Diary column from lukewarm to hot. A lady in a mask--otherwise very nude--seems to have potential. The DVD box did warn of nudity.
4 Tricks of the Trade--A Middle East and shady politics deal cooks. Can Lytton cover the story without the 'Daily News' getting burned? Happy Birthday, Lytton.
5 The Silly Season--Swedish actress & her tell-all-kiss-all manuscript gets Lytton puckered for a juicy one--a story. Then it really gets hot and interesting.
6 Come Uppance--Lytton may have gotten in over his head in the pursuit of a story dealing with skinhead violence.
7 The Ends and the Means--A prominent politician's suicide poses questions for Lytton since he was also a friend. Why? Because of whom? Fanny? There's a cheeky clue.
8 Rules of Engagement--A tennis cad is news beat for a new beautiful reporter while Lytton takes on Judge lock-em-away-Latham, exposed in a questionable photo.
9 The Ancien Regime--A hot French actress & a dictator give plenty for Lytton to ponder. "Daily News" ups the ante.
10 The Miracle Man--Lytton has everyone trying to tell him how to write. He seeks his own council and pursues a healing evangelist. Amen?
11 National Hero--New-trends editor & Diary reporter means run the other direction for Lytton. Rivalry in gossip escalates between the News & the Post.
12 What a Wonderful World--Murder, corruption, & sabotage make good gossip column material when it happens at a beauty pageant. Will the printer's union quash the scoop?

The episodes are like mysteries, but it's reporters looking for clues, not cops.
Of course there is some insider reporter romance.
250713
If you took No Country For Old Men (or at least the movie, I haven't read the book), Ripper Street (the British TV show...I only saw one episode but it seemed like turn-of-the-century London meets Law & Order SVU) and Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (the book, not the TV movie, although that was great as well) and shook them up in a jar, the result would be Murder as a Fine Art.

David Morrell weaves facts about mid-1800's London (some of which are absolutely horrifying) with a story of a brutal mass murderer (fiction, but based on some real cases, such as the Ratcliffe Highway murders) and injects them with a fictionalized version of the real British essayist Thomas De Quincey (of Confessions of an English Opium Eater fame). De Quincey wrote an essay entitled, "Murder as a Fine Art," which was the inspiration for both Morrell's novel and the killing spree of his fictional character therein. As such, the opium addicted De Quincey (in the novel) becomes the chief suspect in the murders and struggles to clear his name through a fog of drug addiction.

It's rare that a Victorian crime novel keeps me up half the night and sends me to bed with nightmares, but this one certainly did. It's definitely not cozy. But every time I felt my sense of horror pushing past the brink, thinking what I was reading was surely more at home in a novel like Red Dragon than in a Victorian detective story, Morrell brought it back to facts, injected some more history into it, which both calmed me and kept me reading well into the wee hours.

And thanks to David Morrell I now have an even longer reading list, as I can't wait to find out more about Thomas De Quincey, opium addiction and the Ratcliffe Highway murders. He reminds me of Kate Summerscale in that way. Actually no. It's more like if you were studying Victorian London in university, Kate Summerscale would be your favourite professor who had the most interesting lectures, but David Morrell would be the drunken professor who meets you down at the pub to tell you "a real story to make your hairs stand on end."

Disclaimer: I received a digital galley of this book free from the publisher from NetGalley. I was not obliged to write a favourable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
542388
I am really enjoying this series. For some reason it strikes me as the British version of Deadwood and as a big fan of Deadwood i see nothing wrong with that. Ripper Street has interesting characters,sets,plots and dialog. Lots of killing,prostitutes and mayhem. My kind of series. Dont know how accurate the history is but its dang entertaining just the same. Check it out U may just like it.
3790713
This crime drama is very good and the film has very good acting - also the conversations in some of the scenes are interesting and not the expected - the major plot twist - between the two women is not entirely predictable - I enjoyed being surprised. The leading man has a sense of integrity - which fits Mr. Everett, in my opinion. Everyone is beautiful in every scene - This is a good Saturday Afternoon film.