Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer – Revealed
Investigation of the Press Involvement in Whitechapel Murders
Jun 24, 2009
“Crooked journalist at the heart of the case” says the voiceover in the introduction to Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer – Revealed as former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie walks into shot. And with that rather hilarious faux pas comes the unintentional highpoint of this latest investigation into the Ripper murders committed over 120 years ago, this time focusing more on the actions of the press during those dark times in London and the role it had in creating hysteria.
Not much New Information in Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer
It all goes to show that Jack the Ripper is making somewhat of a comeback in popularity in terms of TV shows with numerous documentaries continuing to be made and last year’s Whitechapel on ITV1 bringing the killer into contemporary environments. Despite claiming from the off that Jack the Ripper: Tabloid Killer was an entirely new investigation it mainly regurgitated facts and names through the medium of talking heads.
A major disappointment for those who take more than a passing interest in the Ripper case there’s very little if any new information, as the murders are described in grisly detail and the same suspects are trotted out for discussion.
The presenting style of Revealed is also odd as even though MacKenzie is the host he’s always relaying information and thoughts to an invisible questioner off camera instead of the audience. It’s a little off putting as it’s hard to tell just who he’s supposed to be addressing or as he walks down the streets for no particular reason.
Kelvin MacKenzie is Impossible to Like
The only real revelations was that the press at that time was as bad if not worse than the rags of today and that the infamous “Dear Boss” letter, where the Jack the Ripper name was coined, was written by a lowly hack to boost sales. Or how minorities were also blamed for the killings. That sort of thing doesn’t happen much these days...
The Star newspaper at the centre of the whole debacle was like The Sun of its era, so it’s quite fitting that MacKenzie – a man who has overseen or been responsible his fair share of media sensationalism and controversy – was chosen as the face of the programme. His mock up of a modern day version of the Ripper front pages was admittedly a nice touch.
Much like Piers Morgan, although a little more composed, MacKenzie is impossible to respect given his aggressive nature and failing to admit he was wrong on occasions – he still refuses to apologise over his newspaper’s inaccurate coverage of the Hillsborough disaster and the offensive it caused the city of Liverpool. Of course the man’s past has very little to do with this TV programme but it’s important to put his personality and appalling viewpoints into context to understand just how unlikeable he is.
First of New Series of Revealed on Five
Still, as a means of passing an hour it wasn’t too bad and easy to digest even if like a McDonald's meal it did leave it’s viewers a little empty and craving more substance. Hopefully the remainder of the series will be far more insightful and not just a rehash of familiar facts disguised as entirely new information. But given that the following episode is about Da Vinci and the Turin Shroud chances are that won’t be happening anytime soon.
Revealed is on every Wednesday at 8pm on Five.
 |
