Whitechapel - Television Tropes & Idioms

Whitechapel is an ITV crime drama series starring Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davies and Steve Pemberton.

The first series, broadcast in 2009, concerned DI Joseph Chandler (Penry-Jones), a young, inexperienced, and overpromoted detective, who is sent to lead a squad of veteran homicide detectives in the London district of Whitechapel. As soon as he gets there, he is thrown into a murder investigation where a serial killer is re-creating the Ripper murders. Chandler now not only has to solve the most famous unsolved crime in history, but also has to work against his Old Fashioned Copper department, who resent Chandler for being a "desk jockey".

The second series concerned a new series of copycat killings, based on the murders committed by the infamous London gangsters Reggie and Ronnie Kray. However, what seems like another copycat killing turns into something much worse when, Chandler and his men discover it's part of a plot by Ronnie's sons, Jimmy and Johnny, to take over London's crime.

The third series, broadcast in early 2012, sees a change in format. Instead of dealing with copycat murders the team are now using historical precedent to help inform their investgations.

This series contains examples of:

Actor Allusion: The band from Series 3, The Devil's Architects, bear a suspicious likeness to Sam Stockman's band The Circus Electric.
DC Riley: "Apparantely they're a kind of folk-rock electronica thing?"
DC Kent: "Pfft. Explains why I've never heard of them."
Buddy Cops: Chandler, a young, fairly inexperienced detective and neat freak, and Miles, an Old Fashioned Copper.
Call Back: When Mansell joins the team, he is promptly handed a tie.
Character Development: Chandler
Crowning Moment OF Heartwarming: Most of Miles and Chandler's interactions in the final arc of S3
Darker and Edgier: Series 2. And Series 1 wasn't exactly light and fluffy.
- Series 3
Defective Detective: Chandler, who has minor OCD, which gets a lot worse when he's stressed. In series two, when things seem to be completely against him and his team, it becomes almost unbearable, and he's forced to drink to stop himself.
Disproportionate Retribution: The villian of S3 E2 murders whole houses of people to "punish" the survivor because his best friend was killed in a car crash
Driven to Suicide: Mc Cormack in series 2, after betraying the department to the Kray twins.
Downer Ending: The end of series 3
Fire-Forged Friends: Chandler and Miles, over the course of series one.
Hey, It's That Guy!:
- Steve Pemberton, the obsessive Ripperologist who helps Chandler with his investigations, is best known as one of the writers and actors in The League of Gentlemen.
- Rupert Penry-Jones is probably best known for Casanova and Spooks and Phil Davies, who plays Miles, has been in Doctor Who and Sherlock.
- In the second series, we have Peter Serafinowicz, who was in Spaced and voiced Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.
Jack the Ripoff: The whole premise of the first series.
London Gangster: The focus of the second series.
Loners Are Freaks: Miles' reaction to Edward Buchan, the obsessive Ripperologist.
Misplaced Retribution: The bad guy in Series 3 Episodes 1 and 2
Mistaken for Gay: Chandler. Hinted at in series one and two Out and out stated in s3 ep1, Miles asks Chandler why he hasn't married, citing civil partnerships, when Chandler says that isn't the reason he doesn't actually say he's straight.
The Mole: Fitzgerald in series 1, Mc Cormack in series 2.
My God, What Have I Done?: Buchan, after learning he gave the new Ripper all the information he wanted to commit the crimes.
- Bucan again in series 3, now working as the team's researcher he blames himself for not finding the imformation they needed early in the investigation
Naïve Newcomer: Chandler in series one.
Primal Fear: The first villian in Series 3 uses the Primal Fear of the dark to his advantage.
- Nearly all of series 3's villians use this.
Samus Is a Girl: Jimmy's "Blond Boy".
Shame If Something Happened: How the Krays threaten Miles.
Shower of Angst: Chandler is seen sitting fully-clothed in the shower during his Heroic BSOD after Cazenove commits suicide so close to him that his brains splatter onto him.
Stuffedintothe Fridge: Morgan
There Are No Therapists: Played straight in the first two series with Chandler and his OCD. Averted in the final arc of S3, where we see Ed in therapy and the therapist herself becomes an important character.
Utopia Justifies the Means: In Series 2, this is Cazenove's reason for working with the Krays, and helping them make their "Empire of Crime". Not quite utopia, but Cazenove sees it better to have one strong crimelord than lots of little criminals.

We Are Klang

British Series

Who Do You Think You Are?

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This series contains examples of:

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This series contains examples of:

∇
troperville

∇
tools

∇
toys