Mark Daniel - Jack The Ripper

[dem bones]

Mark Daniel - Jack The Ripper (Penguin, 1988)

Back cover blurb:

Even in the gaslit murk of the Victorian London underworld they, shocked...

No other crimes have exerted such an appalled fascination as the grotesque killings of five Whitechapel prostitutes in 1888. And, until now, no one has been able to unmask the real killer.
Published as a companion to a gripping new television series, this is Mark Daniel's unforgettably convincing and atmospheric novelization of the Jack the Ripper murders. With an added twist.
Four separate endings expose four possible murderers. One of these endings will be screened at the end of the television series. You may agree with the conclusion ... or you may not.

Front cover shows Kelly Cryer as Annette, back cover shows Michael Caine as Inspector Frederick Abberline in the Euston Films production, made in association with Hill-O'Connor Entertainment and Lorimar, for Thames Television. Written by Derek Marlowe and David Wickes. Produced and directed by David Wickes Executive Producers, Lloyd Shirley, Robert O'Connor and Leonard Hill.

With the Whitechapel min-series about to Kick off (ITV, 9pm Monday 2nd Feb.) perhaps an opportune moment to resurrect Mark Daniels' Jack The Ripper (1988), based on his screenplay for the Michael Caine & Lewis Collins two-parter, Thames TV's commemoration of the centenary when everyone and their pet hamster were cashing in / "solving" the grisly mystery beyond dispute. Much was made of the fact that even the actors had no idea who was to be positively identified as the Whitechapel butcher as no less than four endings had been filmed and here Daniels treats the reader to each. Needless to say, none of them satisfactorily put the case to bed and every day spawns new suspects, new meticulously researched unlikely theories, new message board bust-ups, etc. That said, it's a tasty novelisation and one you can belt through in one or two sittings. Thames followed Jack The Ripper with a full on bonnet and bodice adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde, amidst much hype that the ending was the scariest thing ever filmed in the history of mankind, but it was rubbish - even Cheryl Ladd as nicely dressed Victorian posh woman couldn't save it. Perversely, i'd love to see it again!

[andydecker]

I remember both movies. I quite like the Michael Caine one. But I have a rather hazy recollection of the Hyde one. Wasn´t this the one with this rubbish "shocking" ending where Ladd get this mutant child?

[dem bones]

Spot on, andy. The baby with the two-tone face. The make-up department didn't exactly push themselves to the limit to achieve such a "terrifying" effect, that's for sure.

[chastel]

This was wonderful movie! It has too much flaws to mention, but that sumptuous atmosphere was something Jack could cut with his knife...

[dem bones]

Top quality drama halloween treat free in tomorrows Daily Telegraph!

The brutal murders committed by Jack the Ripper in London’s East End shocked the Victorian world. On the teeming streets of Whitechapel, prostitutes were being torn to pieces by a killer who vanished in the shadows, time after time.

Why did Queen Victoria send worried telegrams to the Prime Minister? Who ordered vigilantes onto the streets of London? Why was there so little evidence?

Leading the huge manhunt was one of Scotland Yard’s finest detectives - Inspector Frederick Abberline, played by Michael Caine.

[sabenaravna]

I'm resurrecting the dead again...

TV series is enormously entertaining - and terribly over-the-top - but Daniel wastes too much time for his scummy Death penalty to whores! politics. Write a fan letter to the Ipswich Ripper, I think Sutcliffe died already.