Copper and Ripper Street Reviews

There's been a whole lot of other things going on, and unfortunately not much sewing. In case it hasn't been mentioned yet, I also do cross stitch and I've been working on a couple of projects instead. I have been watching a few of my costume dramas though.

Copper
I watched the first season of Copper when it first came out on DVD earlier this year. Now that the second season has started up, I've been doing a bit of catch up (I don't have cable, so I watch them when I can online). Copper airs on BBC America and is the first scripted show made exclusively for the channel.

Image Courtesy of IMDB

The show centers around the Five Points area of New York starting in 1864 and focuses mostly on Kevin "Corky" Corcoran, an Irish immigrant who works as a police detective. Other characters that come into play are the men on his police force, some of the...ahem "ladies of pleasure" the men see frequently, and a few benefactors and other side characters.

While there eventually is an overarching plot that comes to light, it comes across as just another crime show for me, just in a historical setting. There are a few costumes that pop up on some of the female characters, but they are very far and few in between. Right now, the story has me intrigued enough to keep watching as the episodes come out, but not enough that I eagerly anticipate each new one.

Show - 3.5 out of 5

Costumes - 3 out of 5

Ripper Street

When I first heard about this show, it had already aired so I had to wait for it on DVD, then wait for it to come in at the library. As a result, I was only able to watch it just last week.

Image Courtesy of IMDB

Matthew Macfadyen of Pride and Prejudice stars one of the key characters, Edmund Reid, an investigator looking into a variety of killings and other cases following the final Jack the Ripper murder in 1889. Despite the title, there is little mention of the Ripper cases themselves, aside from a couple of murders that resemble the original Ripper murders. Instead, the cases that Reid investigates are in and around the areas of the murders in the East End of London.

There are some great costumes though that pop up throughout the series. One in particular, worn by Amanda Hale, I'm absolutely in love with (hm, new dress possibilities?).

Best image of the dress

Show - 3 out of 5

Costumes - 4 out of 5

In watching the two shows though, the one thing I've come to find is that they are so similar, it's almost as if I'm watching the same thing. The location, time, and characters are different, but overall concept of the character types and how they relate to each other are just too similar. Although it was not intended this way, just check out the above photos.

I'll probably keep watching both shows to see if they get any better (Ripper Street was left on a bit of a cliff hanger). Thankfully there's enough of a gap between the two shows airing that I can separate out the differences.