Jack the Ripper (1973 TV series)

Created byTroy Kennedy Martin
Elwyn Jones

Written byElwyn Jones
John Lloyd

StarringStratford Johns
Frank Windsor

Country of originUnited Kingdom

Jack the Ripper
Created by	Troy Kennedy Martin Elwyn Jones
Written by	Elwyn Jones John Lloyd
Starring	Stratford Johns Frank Windsor
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Running time	50 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC1
Release	13 July (1973-07-13) – 17 August 1973 (1973-08-17)

Jack the Ripper is a six-part BBC police procedural made in 1973, in which the case of the Jack the Ripper murders is reopened and analysed by Detective Chief Superintendents 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 series discusses suspects and conspiracies, but concludes there is insufficient evidence to determine the true identity of Jack the Ripper. 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.