Blu-ray

Ripper Street

Anton van Beek  |  Apr 5, 2013

Hi-def debut of the Beeb's gory period cop show shines a light on vicious Victorian crime

In the wake of ITV's sucess with the rating juggernaut that is Downton Abbey, the BBC really needed to pull out all the stops to re-establish itself as the king of Sunday evening costume drama. But who on Earth would have guessed that the Beeb would try to do it with a Daily Mail-baiting cop show set in Whitechapel circa 1889? Both gripping and ripping, this gory crime series' meticulous attention to detail shines through the Victorian gloom on Blu-ray thanks to six sultry AVC 1080i encodes. If only they were accompanied by worthwhile extras or something more acoustically involving than constrained DTS-HD MA 2.0 soundtracks...

BBC Worldwide, All-region BD, £25 Approx, On sale now
HCC VERDICT: 3.5/5

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