Tag Archives: Ripper Street II

Exclusive RIPPER STREET preview with Kunjue Li

RIPPER STREET

Season 2 – Episode 1: Pure as the Driven

Feb 22 – 9:00PM – EST – BBC AMERICA

FEB 23 – 12:00AM – EST – BBC AMERICA

Writer/historian Damian Michael Barcroft interviews the actress and former model Kunjue Li in an exclusive preview of tonight’s Ripper Street…

Damian: Hi Kunjue and thank you so much for this. I’m very excited because in addition to many film credits, you’ve appeared in two of my favourite shows at the moment – Ripper Street and Peaky Blinders. You’ve been very busy this year haven’t you?

Kunjue: Yes, I had a good year since I graduated from drama school last year. I was lucky enough to be signed with a very good agent after my showcase and he has worked hard to put me to many good auditions. I am so grateful for that.

Kunjue Li in the BBC’s other epic period drama ‘Peaky Blinders’

D: Did you have dreams of becoming an actress and model when you were a little girl?

K: Yes it was always my childhood dream to be an actress. I remember when I was a kid, I used to sit in front of TV and pointed at the “princess” from the dramas shown on TV and say I want to be her.

D: The second series of Ripper Street is set in 1890 and Peaky Blinders is shortly after the first World War. This is a fascinating period in British history, do you enjoy performing in period dramas?

K: I love performing in period dramas, I always loved British period dramas, and love the costumes and it is such a different culture from where I came from.

D: How did you come to be cast in Ripper Street?

K: I went for the audition and 3 recalls. Tom is a brilliant director, I enjoyed talking to him about my character during the audition and the directions he gave me really helped. Kate is an amazing casting director, she was so friendly and so supportive throughout the process. I remember at the last recall, I was asked to improvise something, and after I finished, Kate gave me a thumbs up, which made my day.

D: Who do you play in tonight’s episode?

K: I play Blush Pang a gangster moll, a drug dealer, a Chinese girl who is ambitious and cold – she does anything to survive.

D: Without giving too much of the plot away, what can you tell us about the mysterious Blush Pang?

K: She is cold, independent, driven, and daring. She is clever, knows what she is doing, and uses whatever is useful to her. She only has one weakness – her love for her lover.

D: You look absolutely beautiful in tonight’s episode and your costumes are gorgeous! You must have had a lot of fun dressing up like that?

K: I love the costumes and the jewellery. I was told some of the jewellery I wear was actually antique. Dressing in a corset is tough though, but it helped me getting into the character physically.

Kunjue Li in costume as Blush Pang

D: The sets and production design are also amazing, can you tell us a little bit about your first day of filming?

K: My first day of filming was quite easy, Tom was trying to ease me in. When I get on the set, I was amazed by the production design, it was the scene in Chinatown, everything looks so authentic, so oriental, and it was a night shoot, with the lights, shadows, I feel I went back in time and was in ancient china. It was magical.

D: There are some very exciting action scenes and awesome fight sequences tonight, many of which involve the brilliant Aaron Ly. He seems a very intense and focussed actor, what was it like working with Aaron?

K: Aaron is a amazing actor to work with, we knew each other prior to Ripper Street as we both went for an audition for a Chinese sitcom. He is very focused and driven, and he is an amazing martial artist. He really acts like my big brother – always looking out for me and helping me when I need.

D: Ripper Street has an enormous loyal fanbase and I’m guessing from the messages that I get that most of these are female. I suspect that one of the main attractions are the male leads and guest stars but who do you think is the most handsome man in Ripper Street?

K: Jerome Flynn.

D: What future film or TV projects have you currently got lined up?

K: I‘m working on a sketch at the moment, I help produce it and I also play the lead. We just had our script finished with a BBC writer. It is mainly about modern culture difference, and it is quite a funny script. We are looking into casting in a few weeks. I also help on the marketing side as I used to work as an event manager prior to drama school.

D: Kunjue, it’s been lovely to speak to you – thank you very much indeed.

K: Thank you very much, I am very excited to see the episode and hopefully will be able to work with everyone again. x

~ Damian Michael Barcroft ~

On twitter? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Whitechapel. I’ll be your illicit guide through the dark and bloody RIPPER STREET…

Follow @RipperStreet and @MrDMBarcroft for more exclusive interviews and news!

Matthew Macfadyen and Kunjue Li in a acene from tonight's episode.

Matthew Macfadyen and Kunjue Li in a scene from tonight’s episode.

RIPPER STREET

Season 2 – Episode 1: Pure as the Driven

Feb 22 – 9:00PM – EST – BBC AMERICA

FEB 23 – 12:00AM – EST – BBC AMERICA

Exclusive interviews with the cast/crew of RIPPER STREET

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“Ladies and gentlemen, in the absence of the lecturer with your indulgence I would like to introduce Mr. Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. Before doing so I ask you please to prepare yourselves – brace yourselves up to witness one who is probably the most remarkable human being ever to draw the breath of life.

Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you please not to despise or condemn this man on account of his unusual appearance. Remember we do not make ourselves, and were you to cut or prick Joseph he would bleed, and that bleed or blood would be red, the same as yours or mine.”

– Tom Norman, Showman and manager of Joseph Merrick

Damian Michael Barcroft presents…

EXCLUSIVE RIPPER STREET CAST/CREW INTERVIEWS

Joseph Drake

I am very proud to announce that acclaimed stage actor and rising TV star Joseph Drake will be the first in a new series of my exclusive interviews to be published in The Whitechapel Society Journal.

Joseph Drake plays Mr. Joseph Carey Merrick – better known to the world as the Elephant Man in the first two episodes of the eagerly awaited return of Ripper Street this Monday night at nine on BBC One.

Fans of the show will also be able to read extracts from more exclusive new interviews plus the chance to read previous articles in full on Monday nights following the broadcast of each and every episode of the second series of Ripper Street.

Additional exclusive Ripper Street cast and crew interviews in the forthcoming issues of The Whitechapel Society will include some of the finest artists working in the British film and television industry…

Jassa Ahluwalia ~ Vincent Featherwell

Jonathan Barnwell ~ PC Dick Hobbs

Leanne Best ~ Jane Cobden

Ed Bruce ~ Visual Effects Supervisor

MyAnna Buring ~ Long Susan

Jamie Crichton ~ Screenwriter

Toby Finlay ~ Screenwriter

Steven Hall ~ Director of Photography

Kunjue Li ~ Blush Pang

Aaron Ly ~ Wong King-Fai

Waldo Mason ~ Prosthetic Make-up Effects

Colm McCarthy ~ Director

Charlene McKenna ~ Rose

Lorna Marie Mugan ~ Costume Designer

Gillian Saker ~ Bella

Dominik Scherrer ~ Composer

and…

Creator/lead writer of RIPPER STREET – Richard Warlow

Plus more to be confirmed!

Absolutely none of these interviews and articles would be possible without the generous help and support of the amazing cast and crew of Ripper Street. I am particularly indebted to Toby Finlay, Richard Warlow and Iain Mccallum at Tiger Aspect Productions. Thank you all so very much indeed! D x

The Whitechapel Society (WS1888) publish London’s premier journal for the study of Jack the Ripper and Victorian/Edwardian social history and culture. WS1888 have also written two books on the Whitechapel Murders, Jack the Ripper: The Suspects and Jack the Ripper: The Terrible Legacy. Please see the link below for more information including membership, subscription and back issues.

http://www.whitechapelsociety.com/

“AM I NOT MONSTROUS?”

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In Victorian England “freak-peeping” was an accepted form of entertainment and for twopence you could see a bearded lady, a pair of Siamese twins or you might just chance upon the greatest “attraction” of them all…

LONDON 1884: Dr. Frederick Treves, Surgeon and Lecturer in Anatomy at the London Hospital, paid a full shilling for a private view of what a gaudily-painted poster outside a vacant greengrocer’s shop in the Mile End Road claimed to be a frightful creature called The Elephant Man.

He was confronted with a limping, malodorous wreck whose distorted grotesque face was incapable of expression, and on whose body hung bags of spongy, pendulous tissue.

However, Treves was to discover that behind this monstrous appearence, there was a highly intelligent and sensitive human being. His name was Joseph Merrick and he appears in the first two episodes in the highly anticipated return of RIPPER STREET in the UK on Monday 28th October, 9pm on BBC1.

– Damian Michael Barcroft

RIPPER STREET II: Character Profiles

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~ Introducing Leanne Best as Jane Cobden ~

Jane Cobden was the first woman to be elected to the London County Council as councilor for Bromley and Bow. One of the giants on whose shoulders the Suffragette Movement was to stand, she is a bohemian and a committed defender of the downtrodden and abused.

The above extract was taken from the official Ripper Street II press pack which I have edited slightly to avoid spoilers. My thanks to Tiger Aspect Productions for providing me with publicity and promotional materials.

– Damian Michael Barcroft

All images and content are the copyright of BBC/Tiger Aspect Productions

“PURE AS THE DRIVEN”

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Please note that the following contains very minor SPOILERS as you would expect to read in TV magazines, newspapers and websites.

– Damian Michael Barcroft

RIPPER STREET II EPISODE SYNOPSES

~ Episode One – “Pure as the Driven” ~

Jack the Ripper may be fading into memory now, but East London has found no peace; H Division’s beat is more chaotic and lawless than ever. So when a sergeant from Limehouse’s neighbouring K Division is found, hurled from a Whitechapel tenement window on to the iron railings below, Reid is quick to act. If the police are to be so publicly assaulted on his street’s, what hope for law-abiding civilian life?

Investigations into the man’s activities lead them to the newly emergent Chinatown of the Limehouse dockside; and there into the orbit of K-Division’s Inspector Jedediah Shine. Shine’s conviction is that his sergeant has fallen victim to a Triad turf war in this new market, but Jackson discovers evidence of a newly synthesised and devastatingly powerful opiate that leads Reid to different conclusions. And a dread fear that a new kind of hell is to be released on his streets.

The above extract was taken from the official Ripper Street II press pack. My thanks to Tiger Aspect Productions for providing me with publicity and promotional materials.

All images and content are the copyright of BBC/Tiger Aspect Productions

Introducing Damien Molony as DETECTIVE SERGEANT ALBERT FLIGHT

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Please note that the following contains very minor SPOILERS like you would expect to read in TV magazines, newspapers and websites promoting the new series and introducing new characters.

RIPPER STREET ~ SERIES II

~ Character Profiles ~

Damien Molony as DETECTIVE SERGEANT ALBERT FLIGHT

As an Irishman in the Metropolitan police, Flight is already marked out as an outsider. Securing Reid’s trust and respect is an even harder task, however, for Reid sees in him only a reminder of the violent and tragic loss of another young man PC Dick Hobbs.

But Flight is to prove himself not only worthy of Reid’s respect; but also unworthy of the kind of innocence that drew such affection to Hobbs. For Flight is a man of secrets. Secrets at which the men of H Division could never even guess.

A scene from RIPPER STREET – Episode Four: ‘Dynamite and a Woman’

The above extract was taken from the official Ripper Street II press pack. My thanks to Tiger Aspect Productions for providing me with publicity and promotional materials.

– Damian Michael Barcroft

All images and content are the copyright of BBC/Tiger Aspect Productions

Introducing Joseph Mawle as INSPECTOR JEDEDIAH SHINE

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RIPPER STREET ~ SERIES II

~ Character Profiles ~

Joseph Mawle as INSPECTOR JEDEDIAH SHINE

Ten years an Inspector on the Hong Kong police force, Shine has used that experience to exert a firm grip over Limehouse’s neighbouring ‘K’ Division and the emergent Chinatown that grows within it.

An officer both feared and respected by all, he is, however, a man obsessed by his own power and will. A will that has corrupted him and, if he has his way, will corrupt all and everything that falls within his reach.

As such, he is Reid’s amoral nemesis. Where Reid is restricted by both the law and morality, Shine suffers no such restriction. If Reid cannot find the resources to defeat him, Shine is a monster that might swallow his whole world.

The above extract was taken from the official Ripper Street II press pack. My sincere thanks to Tiger Aspect for providing me with publicity and promotional materials.

– Damian Michael Barcroft

All images and content are the copyright of BBC/Tiger Aspect Productions