2017 science fiction/investigation, 5 or 12 episodes; H. G. Wells
pursues Jack the Ripper into the modern day.
This is based on a book, and the pilot double episode more or
less recapitulates the plot: Wells is showing off the time machine
(which he has somehow built, don't ask) to his friends when the police
come in looking for Jack the Ripper, who turns out to be one of said
friends. He flees into the future, but because he didn't have the
Non-Return Key (don't ask) the time machine conveniently comes back so
that Wells can chase him. Of course there's a future babe for Wells to
fall for, and to be threatened by the Ripper.
But the book was written in 1979 (and filmed the same year), when this
kind of thing probably felt a bit fresher. And this show tries to use
that as the jumping-off point for an extended story, with mysterious
conspiracies and covered-up murders and a time machine that nobody
manages to keep locked away, because most weeks the Ripper has to be
able to steal it so that the protagonists can follow him and try to
stop him doing bad things to history.
The cast is pretty decent, but the writing is a complete mess, and
it's very hard to work up any sympathy for, or even interest in, the
characters.
The show was pulled after five episodes (though the other seven were
broadcast in Spain and Portugal) and has deservedly sunk without
trace.
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