Originally published by L.S. Media. February 7th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis, Steve Pemberton, Sam Stockman, Claire Rushbrook, Shaun Evans, Christina Chong, David Schneider, James Dreyfus.

Just who exactly is watching you? One side of the argument could be the state, the police, Neighbourhood Watch! The other is the person you let in to read the electricity meter, the furniture delivery man or the amiable builder who happened to make something of that spare space.

The second part of the third series of Whitechapel sees the East End of London in a simmering tension that threatens to boil over. The area has a lot to put up with over the years and there are those that would be cruel enough to add that they now have the terror of this police series to contend with and the storylines within. Dig deeper though, see the programme for what it is, rather than what it isn’t.

Yes it’s no Inspector Morse; although the wonderful Shaun Evans who portrayed a younger version of the Oxfordshire detective earlier in the year in Endeavour was on sparkling form in the episode, it’s no Life on Mars either. That’s the point, it’s not trying to be and for any faults some critics may throw their well-used and brash insults the way of the programme, it remains a highlight of television watching!

Following on from the final scene of the previous week, the team find themselves with an escaped murder suspect on the loose. If ever there was a part that was made for David Schneider to play then this was it. There are few actors that can give the viewer a taste of the macabre just by looking at them. Christopher Lee had it in spades, so too it seems does David Schneider. He doesn’t have to say a lot and in episode two he barely says a thing, but it’s the haunted look of demonic salvation that he gives the camera over the two episodes that endear him as an actor of worth and that will also have viewers looking under every nook and cranny the next time they hear a creak from behind the wall.

There is also finally the love angle that can sometimes ruin a programme. In this though it shows how Rupert Penry-Jones’ detective with O.C.D cannot, it seems, live with someone else in his own crawl space. The clutter of someone else’s life, the person’s particular mess would send this man completely round the twist. The haunted and desperate look on the detective as he allowed himself for one brief moment to entertain the idea of cohabitation was one that will break your heart.

It would be cruel to point out there really isn’t much on television worth watching on a Monday night as this programme that deals with historical police cases brought up to date more than makes up for the usual diet of self-indulgent television viewers have become sadly accustomed to at the start of the week.

A cracking yarn, splendid television.

Whitechapel continues on I.T.V. on Mondays.

Ian D. Hall