Doctor Who Vs. Whitechapel, Series 1

"Congratulations, all you've got

to do now is solve the unsolvable,

and catch the most famous serial

killer that ever lived".

Produced by Carnival Films, this dark
crime drama was written by Caroline

Ip and Ben Court - it first aired in

February 2009. The recurring motif of

Whitechapel, the recreation of crimes

in that East End district, began here

with the Metropolitan Police's hunt for

a Jack the Ripper copycat killer, 120

years after the Whitechapeel Murders.

The cast, led by Rupert Penry Jones
(as DI Joe Chandler), Phil Davis (DS

Ray Miles), Steve Pemberton (Ripper-

ologist Edward Buchan), and Alex

 Jennings (Commander Anderson),

depicted many characters named

after real-life figures in the Ripper case - Inspector Joseph Chandler

(1850-1923), Edward Buchan (1859-1888), Sir Robert Anderson

(1841-1918), John Sanders (1862-1901), John McCormack, James

Kent, Dr. Rees Llewellyn (1849-1921), Dr. George Bagster Phillips

(1835-1897), John Leary, Aaron Cohen (1865-1889), Frances Coles

(1865-1891), Robert Lees (1849-1931), Mary Bousfield, Alice Graves

and Alonzo Maduro. Important references to the original murders

were made herein, particularly regarding the canonicity of the

Martha Tabram and Elizabeth Stride killings. 

Later investigations focused on present-day parallels with the notorious
Kray twins, the famous Ratcliffe Highway Murders of 1811, the Thames
Torso mysteries of Victorian London (1873/74 and 1887-89), and even
the urban legend of the 'bogeyman'.

A repeat run of the three-part season (last repeated by the network

on the now defunct ITV Encore channel in early 2018) also featured

twenty-six Doctor Who cast and crew connections:

• Davis played Lucius Petrus Dextrus in The Fires of Pompeii, and voiced Titus for Big Finish's The Cannibalists (2009)
• Pemberton was Strackman Lux in Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead
• Jennings voiced Lord Hawthorn for The Hunting Season (2021)
• Sam Stockman (DC Kent) was the Co-Pilot in The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe
• Claire [Louise] Rushbrook (Dr. Llewellyn) was Ida Scott in The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit (and reprised for Torchwood: Odyssey, 2023), then voiced Tula Chenka for Escapee from Kaldor (2018) and The Robots (from 2019), and the Abbess/Marna for Out of Time 1 (2021)
• Paul Hickey (Dr. Cohen) was Inspector Gregson in Vastra Investigates and Deep Breath
• Marcus Wilson also produced twenty-eight adventures (from The Impossible Astronaut to The Time of the Doctor), and The Doctors Revisited 
• Andy Pryor has also worked as casting director on the revived run since 2005, as well as The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Alice Purser was also casting associate on forty-six stories (from The Waters of Mars to The Husbands of River Song)
• Andy Brierley was also casting associate on fifty-eight episodes (from The Christmas Invasion to The Big Bang), Music of the Spheres, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood
• Balazs Bolygo was also cinematographer on The Rebel Flesh, The Almost People and Closing Time
• film editor Liana Del Giudice also edited The Empty Child, The Doctor Dances, The Christmas Invasion, New Earth, School Reunion and The Day of the Doctor
• Howard Burden was also the costume designer on twenty-eight stories (from Asylum of the Daleks to Death in Heaven)
• costume supervisor Fraser Purfit was assistant costume designer on fourteen instalments (from Asylum of the Daleks to The Name of the Doctor)
• Guy de Glanville was also second assistant director on Voyage of the Damned, Turn Left, and Torchwood, and later first assistant director on The Sarah Jane Adventures
• prosthetics maker Davy Jones was make-up designer on fifteen stories (from Rose to Cold Blood)
• Linda Davie was also make-up designer on fifteen episodes (from Rose to The Time of the Doctor)
• Dani Biernat and Andy Smart were both stunt performers on the revived series too (the former on the 2005 Christmas special, New Earth, The Sound of Drums, and Amy's Choice - the latter on Evolution of the Daleks and Let's Kill Hitler)
• Crispin Layfield (former stuntman on Father's Day) was the stunt co-ordinator on Class and sixty-one instalments of the revived series too (from Smith and Jones to The Husbands of River Song)
• Vince McGahon was also the Steadicam operator on The Vampires of Venice and Vincent and the Doctor
• Lindsay Grant was also script supervisor on A Good Man Goes to War, Dinosaurs on a Spaceship and A Town Called Mercy
• Antonia Grant was also location manager on The Sound of Drums and Last of the Time Lords
• Nick Roberts was also the ADR recordist on The Time of Angels, Flesh and Stone, The Vampires of Venice, Cold Blood and The Lodger
• score engineer Kake Jackson was music mixer on seventy-four stories (from The Runaway Bride to the 2015 Christmas special)
• Julie Ankerson was also the foley artist on every story (from 2005 to The Husbands of River Song), The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood