What news on "Ripper"?

Cafe Society
1

The Buffy spin-off, not the “Jack the”.

The info I’ve heard says that in 2002 BBC2 will be airing 6 episodes of “Ripper”, with Anthony Stewart Head as Giles. The show is supposed to be darker and more adult-oriented than Buffy or Angel, with the typical storyline focusing on Giles solving supernatural mysteries. And as of yet there are no plans for an American station to carry these shows.

All the news stories I saw on this were at least a couple of months old, so I was wondering if anyone knew of any new developments, or had contradictory info to what is above.
Thanks!

2

I’ve heard it will be more of a “Ghostbusters” type of show, with the emphasis on ghosts rather than demons and vampires. But that’s all I’ve heard.

I’m concerned that it won’t be a “series” as we’re used to thinking of them in the states: an ongoing production of 20+ shows per year.

So having Giles in the spinoff (even assuming it ever runs here) won’t make up for not having him on Buffy anymore.

3

That six episode run mentioned might be for a test run. The BBC will buy the first six episodes guaranteed, and if the show is popular, they’ll buy a full season. That’s how they often do it in the US, anyway. The BBC is foreign (and therefore frightening) and may do things different (or “incorrectly”).

4

Six weeks pretty much is a full series in the UK, as Fiver hinted above. I can’t think of any UK series offhand that would even run close to 20 or so episodes - it’s either semi-permanent soap kind of dealy, or 6-8 week run over here. If this is going to be a UK production, that’s maybe what they’ll go with.

My friend (yeah, good source) works for the internal BBC news department, and they have still not heard anything definite in her bit of the company. She’s trying to set up a webcast with Anthony Stuart Head, and his agent isn’t too enthusiastic to do it in the near future, as there is nothing promotable happening at the moment.

More WAG-ing for you, anyway.

5

This might not necessarily cross over, but on last night’s Buffy, Rupert was kicking some serious vampire ass. I always thought he should be a better fighter, considering he was Buffy’s trainer. He also mentioned a couple episodes ago when he first showed up that he had a flat, met up with some old friends, and may have made a new one which he said was statistically impossible for someone of his age. Unless you’re starting a new series, that is.

6

We get a lot of BBC programming in Canada, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

7

I thought he was portrayed on BtVS as a great fighter. He opened a can of whoop-ass on Ethan in Season two after twenty episodes or so of being a docile egghead, and suddenly we knew why Ethan was calling him “Ripper”. When Giles fights, he is portrayed as being fierce and effective. He just didn’t fight very often on the show.