List of Ripper Street episodes

Ripper Street is a BBC fictional drama based in Whitechapel following on from the infamous murders of Jack the Ripper. The first episode was broadcast on the 30 December 2012. A second series was confirmed in January 2013, with the first episode being broadcast on 28 October 2013.^[1][2] The third series was produced by Amazon Prime Instant Video and uploaded weekly onto the Amazon UK site from November 2014.^[3][4] A fourth series, again produced by Amazon Prime Instant Video, began airing weekly on the service, beginning 15 January 2016. The series was originally expected to consist of eight episodes,^[5] but ended up featuring six, including a feature-length (130 min.) premiere. The series has been renewed for a fifth series.^[6][7][8]

Series overview

Series		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
	1	8	30 December 2012	24 February 2013
	2	8	28 October 2013	16 December 2013
	3	8	14 November 2014	26 December 2014
	4	6	15 January 2016	19 February 2016

Episodes

Series 1 (2012–13)

The first series is set in 1889.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions) [9]
1	1	"I Need Light"	Tom Shankland	Richard Warlow	30 December 2012	7.89
When the body of violinist Maude Thwaites is found, it bears all the hallmarks of a Ripper killing. However, an autopsy by Jackson suggests it is a copy-cat killing. Despite opposition from journalist Fred Best (David Dawson) and Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline (Clive Russell), Detective Inspector Reid and his team enter into the world of Sir Arthur Donaldson (Mark Dexter), a pioneer in early photographic pornography and producer/star of one of the first 'snuff films', after discovering motion film of Thwaites being strangled. The investigation becomes more urgent when it is discovered that Donaldson purchased the services of Rose (who had already appeared in risque photos) and another prostitute.
2	2	"In My Protection"	Tom Shankland	Richard Warlow	6 January 2013	6.94
Ernest Manby (David Coon), a 63-year-old toy maker is found beaten to death. George Lusk (Michael Smiley) and the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee claim that 14-year-old Thomas Gower (Giacomo Mancini) is responsible. Reid's conscience is challenged by a radical lawyer Eagles (Hugh O'Conor), a friend and confidant of Reid's wife, and orphanage governess Deborah Goren (Lucy Cohu) and it leads to Gower being put under the protection of Reid. Jackson’s drinking and gambling have led to the loss of the ring that ties him and Long Susan to their American past. The two events lead to the death of Eagles and a dangerous task for Long Susan to recover the ring from a gambling den run by Carmichael (Joe Gilgun) who uses his vicious child gang to attack Miss Goren’s orphanage to kill Gower sheltering there with Reid and Drake, the location having been given up by Jackson when he and Long Susan are captured by Carmichael.
3	3	"The King Came Calling"	Andy Wilson	Declan Croghan and Richard Warlow	13 January 2013	6.54
Fear of the return of "King" cholera joins Whitechapel's H Division and the independent City of London police forces amid the panic. Captain Jackson's autopsy discounts cholera and indicates St Anthony's Fire caused by wilful contamination of food in both boroughs. Inspector Sydney Ressler (Patrick Baladi) joins Reid’s team as they scour Whitechapel for clues and connections of five dead City of London workers that include transvestism and homosexuality. Reid's wife seeks patronage for her charity efforts and is rebuffed and succumbs to the same illness seeing her dead daughter in her delirium. As Jackson’s lab fills with bodies, and with no clear connection between the victims to be found, the team work against the clock to find some underlying pattern amidst the rising tide of sickness and death.
4	4	"The Good of This City"	Andy Wilson	Julie Rutterford and Richard Warlow	20 January 2013	6.95
The clearing of a Whitechapel slum for the underground railway by progressive councillor Stanley J. Bone (Paul McGann) of the new LCC reveals a murder scene of two bodies, two young children in an adjoining room and an unreliable girl witness. Lucy Eames (Emma Rigby), a beautiful, disturbed, three months pregnant former 16-year-old prostitute at Long Susan's brothel, is the centre of a complex web of conspiracy which involves benevolent Dr. Karl Crabb (Anton Lesser), a leading psychiatrist specialising in lobotomies. Reid discovers one killer is someone he knows and the mystery children are taken from the safety of Miss Goren's (Lucy Cohu) orphanage as Reid closes in on a solution that leads to corruption and abuse by seemingly respectable individuals.
5	5	"The Weight of One Man's Heart"	Colm McCarthy	Toby Finlay	27 January 2013	6.47
A military style robbery is a puzzle to Detective Inspector Reid when the stolen gems are returned save for one blue sapphire. Drake's heart has fallen for Rose, and he hopes for a life with her, despite warnings from Reid and Jackson. She, however, has dreams of being an actress. Drake is confronted with his past when his former commanding officer during the Mahdist War, Colonel Madoc Faulkner (Iain Glen) returns to London to seek compensation for the 'unjust' treatment of the British army's soldiers by planning an audacious robbery of the Royal Mint, requiring Drake's help to gain entry. Reid closes in on the robbers and Drake finds his loyalties put to the test.
6	6	"Tournament of Shadows"	Colm McCarthy	Toby Finlay	3 February 2013	6.31
With the London Dock Strike of 1889 leading to protests in the streets of London, the killing of Jewish anarchist Joshua Bloom (Ferdinand Kingsley) in a bomb explosion and the wrecking of the International Working Men's Club in Berner Street sees Reid and the team fighting international terrorism led by Russian spy Peter Morris (Peter Ferdinando). Jackson, using his Pinkerton experience, goes undercover to infiltrate the strikers but Reid is warned off the case by Commissioner James Monro (Michael McElhatton) and Superintendent Constantine (Derek Riddell) of Special Branch who seems to have prior knowledge of Morris' activities, Jackson's past and Reid's daughter's death. When his wife tells Reid to clear their daughter Matilda's bedroom, he opens up to Miss Goren, telling her of the circumstances of how he received burns to his body when his daughter disappeared, and stating that he believes she is still alive.
7	7	"A Man of My Company"	Andy Wilson	Richard Warlow	17 February 2013	6.10
An international shipping magnate, Theodore P Swift (Ian McElhinney), arrives in London with his Pinkerton retinue to complete the acquisition of an ailing London shipping line. The leader of the visiting Pinkerton clan, Frank Goodnight (Edoardo Ballerini), badly wants to find Captain Homer Jackson. Jackson, however, doesn’t wish to be found. Meanwhile the murdered body of an engineer, inventor of a new ship's engine that could save the ailing company, draws Reid's attention just as Jackson and Long Susan's past comes back to haunt them. Reid's investigation of the engineer's wife (Shauna Macdonald), has disastrous results for Constable Hobbs and Goodnight's handiwork places Jackson under the suspicion of Chief Inspector Abberline when a prostitute is found murdered in the same manner as the Ripper's victims.
8	8	"What Use Our Work?"	Andy Wilson	Richard Warlow	24 February 2013	6.44
Reid is adrift and his team in pieces and Leman Street is shaken to its foundations following recent events. With Abberline convinced that Jackson is The Ripper, the captain is in custody and facing the death penalty. Reid is convinced of Jackson's innocence, and brings in Joseph Lavender (Linal Haft) who had seen The Ripper with one of his victims the previous year, but Lavender proves not to be the key to Jackson's release from custody. Reid seeks solace with Miss Goren and Drake with Bella, one of Long Susan's girls. Rose leaves the brothel to stay at Mrs Reid's shelter and, through a newspaper lonely hearts page, she seeks out a wealthy husband. When Rose disappears, Reid and Drake suspect that a white slavery ring is operating in their midst, with previous Ripper suspect, Victor Silver (David Oakes), at its head. Reid reveals Silver was one of the missing victims from the boat accident that he and his daughter were on. Silver is assisted in his work by his sister Clara (Ruta Gedmintas) and brother Barnaby (Kristian Nairn). Jackson is eventually given the chance to prove to everyone (most importantly Abberline) that he is not Jack the Ripper. Reid, Drake and Jackson are left free to continue cleaning up the streets of Whitechapel.

Series 2 (2013)

The second series is set in 1890.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions) [9]
9	1	"Pure as the Driven"	Tom Shankland	Richard Warlow	28 October 2013	6.45
When a sergeant from the neighbouring police district, Limehouse, is hurled from a tenement window onto the iron railings below, Reid finds himself thrown into the murky trade of legal opium in Chinatown which is being converted in Whitechapel into a new opiate, heroin, with seemingly the help of the amoral Detective Inspector Jedediah Shine (Joseph Mawle), head of K Division, Limehouse, who had previously spent 10 years with the Hong Kong police. Reid, taunted by Shine as "pure as the driven", finds himself accused of killing the sergeant at the Whitechapel hospital where the only witness might be Joseph Merrick (Joseph Drake), the Elephant Man.
10	2	"Am I Not Monstrous?"	Tom Shankland	Richard Warlow	4 November 2013	5.48
A young woman, Stella Brooks, is murdered at the Whitechapel Hospital shortly after giving birth and her baby taken. The woman has an unusual deformity that leads Reid to freak shows and, seeking help from Joseph Merrick, finds him terrified after an unbeknown visit from Inspector Jedediah Shine who also appears involved in the case. Jackson discovers Long Susan is in debt to Silas Duggan (Frank Harper), another friend of Shine's. Suspect John Goode was twice an inmate of Dr Karl Crabbe's asylum. Merrick, who can exonerate Reid, dies mysteriously in his sleep and the murder of Shine's sergeant is unproven.
11	3	"Become Man"	Christopher Menaul	Marnie Dickens	11 November 2013	5.03
Female kidnappers, supporters of Jane Cobden (Leanne Best), one of the first London County Councillors, take a prominent member of the council from his table at the music hall where Rose Erskine now works as a waitress. They strike again at the Tenter Street brothel, taking a lawyer from the brothel along with Long Susan. The lawyer is identified as Thomas Ely by Rose and Drake's new wife, Bella, as a client when they worked as prostitutes at the brothel. A third kidnap victim presents Reid with a link to the London matchgirls strike of 1888.
12	4	"Dynamite and a Woman"	Christopher Menaul	Jamie Crichton and Richard Warlow	18 November 2013	N/A
An Irish bomber, Aiden Galvin (Stanley Townsend), is sprung from a prison wagon when the driver seemingly has a heart attack and barely a day later a prominent M.P., an opponent of the Home Rule movement, is murdered. Chief Inspector Abberline is convinced that the Irish Republican Brotherhood is active once more and orders Reid to send the Irish DC Flight (Damien Molony) undercover into Whitechapel's Irish community to befriend Galvin's believed daughter. Jackson's forensic examination of the two deaths points to rival electrical companies competing to build a power station.
13	5	"Threads of Silk and Gold"	Kieron Hawkes	Thomas Martin and Toby Finlay	25 November 2013	4.27
The strangling of a Telegraph Boy lifts the lid on the telegraph boys prostituting themselves and blackmailing their clients, chief among them Vincent Featherwell (Jassa Ahluwalia). The investigation leads Reid to Barings Bank and the apparent suicide of one of its employees and a missing folio of the Bank's business in an economic disaster in Argentina that would bankrupt the bank. Fred Best, one of the boys' clients, becomes involved as Reid's instrument of justice when the law fails. Jackson's means of ridding himself and Long Susan of the debt they owe the moneylender, Silas Duggan, backfires when he loses all their money in Argentine stocks.
14	6	"A Stronger Loving World"	Kieron Hawkes	Toby Finlay	2 December 2013	4.18
Attacks on churches and synagogues threatens to break the fragile peace between Whitechapel's religious communities. Bella Drake's 'uncle', Gabriel Cain (Paul Kaye), a charismatic scholar, and former member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, with a group of fanatical followers of his unorthodox occult beliefs of Elizabethan astrologer John Dee seek to convert Drake. Rose Erskine, seeking financial help from penniless Long Susan, falls foul of the same group. Reid is astonished to find a photograph of Bella as Cain's holy queen and pregnant. Tragedy befalls Drake when he, Bella, and Rose are brought together to take part in the groups intention to commit mass suicide.
15	7	"Our Betrayal - Part one"	Andy Wilson	Richard Warlow	9 December 2013	N/A
Drake is missing, searched for by Rose. Jackson's brother, Daniel Judge (David Costabile), arrives with a stolen rough diamond from a South African mining company. Long Susan has pressing matters when Silas Duggan moves into Tenter Street intent on taking her absent husband's place. Reid and Flight investigate a confidence trickster who has cheated jeweler Nathaniel Hinchcliffe and under the protection of Inspector Shine seems untouchable. Jackson believes the diamond will solve his problems with Long Susan but agents of the mining company seek its return. Reid's investigation of the confidence trickster is undermined by betrayal and a coincidence brings Drake back to Leman Street with the body of Hinchcliffe.
16	8	"Our Betrayal - Part two"	Andy Wilson	Richard Warlow	16 December 2013	4.63
Three corpses found in a slum tenement murdered in the same way as Hinchcliffe lead Reid, by Flight's testimony, to Inspector Shine's doorstep. Identifying the corpses leads to a property trail and Silas Duggan whom Jackson's brother wants to sell the stolen diamond. Unable to prosecute Shine or Duggan, Jackson and Long Susan see a way to gain revenge on Duggan while Reid seeks Shine's demise in a boxing match with Drake.

Series 3 (2014)

The third series is set in 1894.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers (millions) [9]
17	1	"Whitechapel Terminus"	Andy Wilson	Richard Warlow	14 November 2014 (Amazon) 31 July 2015 (BBC One)	4.92
A locomotive disaster right on Reid's doorstep brings unexpected consequences for Whitechapel. A daring robbery is attempted and is successful but not without causing a serious accident. As Police get closer and closer to the perpetrators, they are faced with an agonising decision. While Reid fights to restore peace to Whitechapel's blood-stained streets, his former team is regrouping. Elsewhere, Susan has created a business out of her brothel and this inevitably brings her to the inspector's attention.
18	2	"The Beating of Her Wings"	Andy Wilson	Toby Finlay	14 November 2014 (Amazon) 7 August 2015 (BBC One)	4.44
A murder inquiry in a curiosity shop brings trouble to Reid's and Susan's doorstep and the discovery of a captive girl. The story of misgivings and intimidation haunts the Police as they try to figure out who the murderer is. Susan, as ever, is not far away and springs her own trap for the inspector. As the horrible truth is slowly revealed, Reid must control himself as he tries to save the girl who seems to hold all the answers.
19	3	"Ashes and Diamonds"	Anthony Byrne	Toby Finlay	21 November 2014 (Amazon) 14 August 2015 (BBC One)	3.75
Alexander Le Cheyne, a mysterious clairvoyant is found dead at the local performance place. Jackson presumes poison has a part to play and sure enough in the autopsy he discovers Hydrogen Cyanide. As Reid is missing Drake steps in to investigate and arrests Alex's sidekick Ezra as a fraud. As the investigation continues a damsel who strings up men alive and three affairs are discovered. Meanwhile Drake finds his loyalties tested and gets closer to solving a very intricate puzzle. Elsewhere Susan continues to care for Matilda and plans to send her to Switzerland.
20	4	"Your Father, My Friend"	Andy Wilson	Richard Warlow	28 November 2014 (Amazon) 21 August 2015 (BBC One)	3.71
Drake discovers a dishevelled Reid hiding in a Margate beach hut and informs him that nobody else saw him kill Buckley and that Matilda is alive. They return to Whitechapel and eventually locate Matilda at a brothel, where she had been taken by teen-aged pimp Harry Ward. Dr Frayn tells Reid she has reason to believe Matilda saw his files on Jack the Ripper and the details of his first two murders, with the images of his victims scarring her and pushing her away from Reid. Suspicious of Capshaw's part in the train robbery, Fred Best shadows him and produces evidence to show that the stolen money belonged to Susan's father - which he gives to Jackson. Reid is reunited with his daughter. Jackson confronts Susan and they reconcile romantically. Jackson believes she is innocent and points Reid towards Capshaw. Before Reid can arrest the solicitor, Susan shoots him from behind the curtains and then kills Capshaw as he gloats over Reid's body, making it look as if they shot each other in self defense.
21	5	"Heavy Boots"	Andy Wilson	Richard Warlow	5 December 2014 (Amazon) 28 August 2015 (BBC One)	N/A
Jackson attempts to drink away his sorrow and Drake sleeps once again with Rose as Reid lies comatose in Obsidian's hospital. But Fred Abberline rouses them to solve the murder of a publican whose body is found stuffed inside a barrel. Their investigation leads them to a gang of coopers from the local Black Eagle brewery, who have been using intimidation tactics to ensure that local publicans continue to serve the brewery's beers rather than beer from outside London. Meanwhile, Drake confronts Rose at the music hall, demanding that she tell her fiancé about their relationship. Suspicion finally falls on the younger of two brewery brothers who are apprentices at the brewery. Jackson convinces the elder brother, who is dying of consumption, to talk his sibling out of killing PC Grace, whom the brewery gang have kidnapped. Jackson sits in his surgery, contemplating all the horrors he has seen and faced as Mimi comforts him. In the hospital, Reid dreams of his past and of his daughter, and awakens. Long Susan greets him, asking "Sir, who am I?".
22	6	"The Incontrovertible Truth"	Anthony Byrne	Richard Warlow	12 December 2014 (Amazon) 4 September 2015 (BBC One)	N/A
The recovering Reid arrests Lady Vera, Countess Montacute, an aristocrat who enjoys slumming it, who has been found unconscious in a Whitechapel lodging house next to the corpse of flower seller Ida Watts. Both women were drugged and Ida's cousin Tom Denton, a known thief who drugs his victims, is also brought in. He explains that he procured Ida for sex with Lady Vera and her husband, who arrives at the police station demanding his wife's release. Lady Vera admits to the murder but the modern finger-printing device proves that hers was not the hand upon the fatal weapon.
23	7	"Live Free, Live True"	Saul Metzstein	Rachel Bennette	19 December 2014 (Amazon) 11 September 2015 (BBC One)	3.59
John Currie, a chemist, is murdered, with evidence that he was an abortionist who treated his clients with dangerous lead compounds. His apprentice points the police to a deserted surgery and a strong box, containing evidence that the doctor who owned the surgery was experimenting in sterilization. Dr Frayn persuades Susan to employ Dr Rolle, who will conduct medically supervised terminations to prevent girls visiting back street abortionists but it is too late for Mary Tait, mutilated by Currie and the cause of a fight between her boyfriend Edwin Havelock and her.
24	8	"The Peace of Edmund Reid"	Saul Metzstein	Richard Warlow	26 December 2014 (Amazon) 18 September 2015 (BBC One)	N/A
An American journalist is tortured and killed, after meeting with Best to discuss Theodore Swift, who has returned to London and is staying with Susan, dissolving Obsidian Estates to make way for his expanding business - selling weapons to the highest bidders. Best is on the run, but is eventually captured by Swift's men, and tortured and killed with one of these weapons, but not before Jackson gets his hands on some invaluable evidence against Swift. Having matched the fingerprints, Jackson confronts Susan about shooting Reid, and she tells him she is pregnant. After finding this out, Mimi leaves Jackson. Drake breaks into Jackson's surgery and finds his bag containing the gun and proof of Susan's guilt. He confronts Jackson about this, leading to a fight. Reid finds them handcuffed together on the pavement, and reminds them of their duties. With Best on the mortuary table, Jackson reveals all to Reid. Reid meets with Susan and offers to spare her instant arrest if she helps him bring down Swift. She meets her father at the abandoned work site, and, alongside Reid, Drake and Jackson, locks him in the same cellar Mathilda was kept in. At H Division, Reid decides it is time to retire, and leaves the station for the last time. Drake assumes the position as head of the Division. Jackson is seen with Susan in her cell, and comforts her quoting his marital vows "For better or worse- right?". Drake finally marries Rose, overseen by Sergeant Artherton and the boy Drake saved from the Train Disaster. Reid is seen on the beach with Mathilda in the final scene, as Reid's obituary written by Best is voiced over by him.

Series 4 (2016)

The fourth series is set in 1897.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
25	1	"The Strangers' Home"	Kieron Hawkes	Richard Warlow	15 January 2016 (Amazon) TBA (BBC One)
Reid returns to Whitechapel to covertly re-investigate a case made by Drake and Jackson.
26	2	"Some Conscience Lost"	Luke Watson	Rachel Bennette	22 January 2016 (Amazon) TBA (BBC One)
Reid struggles to adapt on his first day back at H Division under Drake’s command.
27	3	"A White World Made Red"	Luke Watson	Justin Young	29 January 2016 (Amazon) TBA (BBC One)
Jackson feels the heat when a double murder throws light upon his recent illicit activities.
28	4	"Men Of Iron, Men Of Smoke"	Luke Watson	Matt Delargy	5 February 2016 (Amazon) TBA (BBC One)
When a footballer is brutally murdered, a key suspect is a man close to Drake's heart.
29	5	"No Wolves In Whitechapel"	Anthony Byrne	Richard Warlow	12 February 2016 (Amazon) TBA (BBC One)
Drake's life unravels as he questions whether he sent an innocent man to the gallows.
30	6	"Edmund Reid Did This"	Anthony Byrne	Richard Warlow	19 February 2016 (Amazon) TBA (BBC One)
The walls close in on Reid as a secret from his past threatens to destroy his future in Whitechapel.

References

1. Brown, Maggie (2013-01-29). "Ripper Street to return for second series". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2013-07-03.
2. "'Ripper Street' series two premiere date confirmed by BBC One – Ripper Street News – Cult". Digital Spy. 2013-10-02. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
3. Ripper Street to return for brand new series next month on Amazon following BBC axe
4. Georg, Szalai. "'Ripper Street' Season 3 to Premiere on Amazon U.K. in November". TheHollywoodReporter.com. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
5. http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/ripper-street/35374/ripper-street-series-4-amazon-prime-releases-lengthy-synopsis
6. http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/ripper-street/35374/ripper-street-renewed-by-amazon-for-series-4-and-5
7. http://zap2it.com/2015/06/ripper-street-season-3-finale-not-end-renewed-season-4-5-amazon/
8. http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/may/13/ripper-street-to-return-for-two-more-series-of-blood-guts-and-pocket-watches
9. "Top 30 Programmes". BARB. 2013-10-06. Retrieved 2013-10-18.