Whitechapel

- Season 4

(2013)

Chandler and Miles attend the launch of Buchan's book on murders in Whitechapel, where they are baffled by cryptic remarks made by an eccentric old lady, Louise Iver. At the same time, elderly vagrant Alexander Zukanov is lured to a house with strange markings on the wall where he is pressed to death, giving the name Dorothy Cade to his killer before he dies. Miles and Chandler visit Zukanov's doss-house and learn that the other occupants were frightened of him and regarded him as a warlock. Buchan confirms that Zukanov was a member of the Bulgarian secret service and...

Buchan theorizes that the killer believes they are a modern Witchfinder General and that the markings on both Dorothy's house and the scene of Alexander's murder are to warn off evil spirits, though homeless Lee Bysack claims they are to show houses friendly to vagrants. Another woman is killed and it seems that each victim gave the murderer the name of an associate, who was then slain. Dr. Llewellyn tells Chandler that Dorothy's killer lost a finger through gangrene and Buchan explains that the gangrene was probably the result of ergot poisoning, which causes madness...

A young woman is menaced in a graveyard but her stalker is slain by an assassin, who runs away. Next morning a human face is found in an art gallery exhibiting the works of Sebastian Marlowe, the body being later fished from a river. Numerous tattoos on body and face identify the dead man as Nikolay Baldaev, a member of the Russian Mafia and, on the house-to-house enquiry butcher Anjit Marsud and his daughter Sabina deny knowing him but appear to be lying. Chandler establishes that Sebastian Marlowe does not exist, the work being created by his supposed assistant ...

Following the discovery of a third corpse, flayed like the others, Sabina Masud talks to Chandler. She explains that Baldaev was the leader of a Russian extortion gang demanding money from her father. When he refused to pay Baldaev stalked her and she was in the graveyard when he was killed, describing his slayer as resembling an old woman wearing a leather mask. This fits the description of the person who abducted young student William Tierney Clark. Clark, like the other three victims, was acquitted in a case where somebody was killed, suggesting a revenge motive by...

In the sewers beneath as Whitechapel church two workmen find the disembowelled corpse of young runner Thomas Griffin. Dr Llewellyn believes his killer removed his stomach and entrails. A camera rigged up in the sewer leads to zoologist Mark Hooper but he was only testing an urban myth to see if feral pigs roamed the sewers. The next victim, Anne Ayres, is found in the same state as Thomas and, like him, was feted for local charity work. Both were profiled by journalist Peter Dunn, who, when visited by the police, is cooking something that smells very strange. At the ...

Buchan theorizes that the killers are cannibals, eating their victims to assume their power and goodness. Following Josie's disappearance, Miles and Chandler learn that she too was interviewed by Dunn, and that he is part of an exclusive dining club - though they feed on endangered species, not people. After Josie's body is found Miles installs a CCTV camera in the police station, which captures Louise Iver committing acts of sabotage which have caused the recent disasters. He believes she is an immortal succubus, inciting others to murder, though Buchan is sceptical....