The latest period piece for TV is “Ripper Street,” which is more successful than the BBC America’s last scripted show, “Copper,” though it covers roughly the same time.
“Ripper Street” (BBC America, 9 p.m.) takes place in Victorian London in the time of Jack the Ripper though that killer isn’t the main target. Instead, he’s blamed for every murder that goes on.
And there’s nothing better than a costume to get into the era, says actor Jerome Flynn.
“A costume is such a great thing for an actor, especially in a show where you’re moving out of your modern dress,” he said at the TV Critics press tour. “It’s where you in the day when we were doing the fittings and you’re getting your costume on, for me, it’s when I started to really feel feel the character and feel myself change, molding into him.”
But, said, Richard Warlow said, “The thing about a British police uniform is you look like a prat. There is no way around it. You just look like a bobby on the beat. So it was like, ‘All right. Get him out of that and put him in a killer suit.’
“Two days before filming, I think, we had to rush a completely new costume over from London and try a whole new thing, which I’m glad we did,” Gould said.
“For me, it was kind of love hate relationship with those starched collars,” said the show star Matthew MacFayden.
For Adam Rothenberg, “The mustache did something to my head.”
“Ripper Street” premieres on BBC America Saturday at 9 p.m.