The Kray days

Steve Pratt reports.

AS Whitechapel was ITV’s best performing new drama last year – more than nine million viewers watched the first episode – a sequel was always on the cards.

The dilemma was which direction in which to take the series that had seen Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davis and Steve Pemberton chasing a Jack the Ripper copycat killer.

The new series from writers Ben Court and Caroline Ip draws on an iconic cult crime born out of London’s East End and the gangster brutality of the Krays. In Whitechapel II, the paranoia of that era and the faded glamour of the former overlords characterise the drama.

Ronnie and Reggie Kray ruled the East End of London with a viciousness and fear that still resonates today.

When we last saw Penry-Jones’ detective Chandler in Whitechapel he’d saved the life of his colleague Miles (Phil Davis) but in doing so let his Jack the Ripper copycat killer get away.

The new series opens with Chandler’s team at a police awards ceremony, but as the event progresses someone is tearing up the East End in much the same way as the Kray twins did in the Sixties.

“It can be quite gruesome in parts as you are seeing someone having their face cut off in a toilet and serious wounds being inflicted on various people,” says Penry-Jones. “As it turns out, somebody is terrorising London in the style of the Krays and we appear to have another copycat murderer on our hands.”

The discovery of a body in the Thames sets Chandler and his team on a journey into very dark and dangerous territory.

“I really enjoyed playing Chandler in series one and the Ripper scripts were outstanding.

Having said that, there is always room to take characters and plots forward. I felt the scripts this time round were even better,” he explains.

“Reprising the role of Chandler was just an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. The show is going from strength to strength, not to mention having the iconic 1960s fashion style as a reference point, altogether giving the show a more visually textured look and feel.”

The new Whitechapel is a contemporary, modern drama, but from design and locations to makeup and costume it references the cool, stylish tones of Sixties London and the Krays dominance in the underworld.

The costumes were particularly important to Penry-Jones. “This series will have a style to it that is all its own. Visually, it’s going to be quite exciting and have an underlying sense of the Sixties in the way that we’re dressed and styled,” says Penry- Jones.

“Chandler is someone who has to look perfect the whole time because of his obsessive compulsive disorder. It’s important for him to look in a way that the others can’t quite emulate and I love being able to wear such beautiful suits to work,”

he says.

Penry-Jones brought a lot of his own research about Chandler’s OCD to the role. “I met with a doctor who specialises in OCD before we began filming because it’s a very serious illness, but also a really common one and I didn’t want to be disrespectful to it.

“The OCD is actually really crippling for Chandler and it begins to do his head in. He’s someone who hardly ever drinks, but he has to drink to be in control. So not only has he got OCD, terrified for his life, chasing the bad guys, he’s also pretty drunk, so it’s been great fun doing it. “Another interesting twist is that both police and gangsters are being hunted by each other. It’s a race to the finish to see who gets who first in a battle of wills, nerve and sheer guts.

“The Krays infiltrated the judicial system and policemen weren’t safe. In this, we end up being turned on by our own police. So all that’s left is a handful of us that are actually trying to catch the bad guys, everyone else is working for them.”

Once again, the area of Whitechapel is very much a character in the script with the drama drawing on the locations and living history of the Krays’ old haunts to lend the drama authenticity.

“The difference this time is we’re using locations that echo the Sixties rather than the Victorian era. You’ve got all these fabulous buildings and we filmed as much as possible in locations that were frequented by Ronnie and Reggie – for example, Pellici’s cafe in Bethnal Green Road,” says Penry-Jones.

The production also used the original East End locations of The Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel, Repton boys’ boxing club and Whitechapel streets where the Krays lived.

“There’s one scene where Chandler challenges Jimmy Kray to a boxing match and I had to fight Craig Parkinson, who had been training for weeks beforehand,” says Penry-Jones. “I was a bit worried he might seriously go for me, but it was fine.

We both ended up with a few rope burns and bruises, but nothing too serious.”

■ Whitechapel begins on Monday on ITV1 at 9pm.