This 1988 television telling of the infamous Whitechapel Murders began life as a modestly scaled studio production with Barry Foster in the lead. Twenty minutes of filming were already in the can but the producers, Thames TV, realised, belatedly, that they had a production ripe for the American market.
The decision was taken to shut down filming and recast with the biggest names they could get while also pouring money into the sets and costumes in order to create a much more filmic experience. This led to the netting of Michael Caine as the lead who had not appeared on British Television in twenty years.
Although a fictionalised account of the Jack the Ripper saga in many respects most of the historical details and principal characters were solidly based in reality.
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| 'TP' O'Connor |
Enter 'TP' as 'O'Connor', a headline seeking newspaper editor who spies the murders as excellent copy and the ultimate circulation booster. While this portrayal is rendered with a degree of dramatic license (the real-life 'O'Connor' did indeed provide very graphic and detailed accounts of each murder) in Victorian society he was regarded as one of Fleet Street's finest scribes as well as been a prominent and noted parliamentarian and a leading player in the movement for Irish independence.
Our 'TP' in this production is in commanding and ebullient form barking orders down corridors, scoring copy with editorial zeal and casting an ever critical eye across proceedings.
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| TP with Michael Caine and Lewis Collins |
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| 'Tay Pay' This cartoon portrait of TP O'Connor hung for many years on the wall of TP's study |
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| TP as 'O'Connor' fully in command of his newsroom. |
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