GENERAL INTERVIEW

Jackie The Ripper is a hilarious new audio drama, just in time for Halloween

Published on October 26, 2021

Everyone knows the story of London’s most infamous criminal, Jack the Ripper. Now, 133 years later and just in time for this year’s spooky season, there’s a new serial killer in town. She goes by the name of Jackie the Ripper.

With the first episode launching this Monday 25th October, Jackie The Ripper is a five-part audio comedy drama podcast which offers an absolutely hilarious, gruesome and timely reimagining of the Jack the Ripper murders. In this retelling, we see a ruthless female serial killer terrorising male victims while teasing her killing spree on social media. From the makers of hysterical spoof comedy podcast, The Offensive, this brand-new audio drama follows the woman-hunt of Whitechapel, with sharp, satirical dialogue from voice-over actors from Mumbai to New Zealand.

Number 1 in the Apple Podcast Fiction Charts today, Pod Bible caught up with writer Joel Emery and director Adam Jarrell to discuss the intricacies of making a hit podcast and much more!

Could you describe the concept behind Jackie The Ripper and what it was like establishing a comedic spin on such an infamous story?

This is a retelling. We’ve kept the finer details, victim’s names are similar, dates are the same, locations are precise – however, we’ve tweaked two things… It’s modern day – and the killer is a woman and she’s going for the men of Whitechapel. True crime is one of the most popular genres across all media at the moment, and has been for some time. We’ve become accustomed to putting comedic spins on tough subjects throughout our three years on The Offensive, and with the gender roles being reversed from the original events, it allowed us the artistic license to get creative with the “gory details”. There’ll be a serious moment in the postmortem, broken by a character saying the word ‘knob’ once too often.

What importance do these dates have on the release of the series?

It’s Halloween week! For some reason we all find Halloween quite fun, so the nature of Jack The Ripper fits it well with late October, a chance for a little scare here and there, but mostly laughs at the expense of our protagonists and a few de-bollocked victims. The boring answer to that was a few international football breaks, meaning the occasional week off from our weekly show ‘The Offensive’, and allowing ourselves to dive head first into Whitechapel.

Was the female characterisation of Jack The Ripper simply part of the comedic agenda or do you feel it takes on more of a social importance?

If you research 1888 and Jack the Ripper and what he did to Mary Ann, Annie, Liz, Catherine and Mary Jane… And you don’t come out the other end of that a feminist – then you’ve got something wrong with you. Neither of us know the reality of being a woman, so while feminism remains a strong theme in the show – it would be disingenuous and obnoxious to present the show to the world as purely how us blokes see it. Other themes are in there, social cohesion (or lack there of), masculinity crisis, loss and pride. Ultimately we build from the comedy first and foremost. It’s embarrassing to admit that knobs and balls being chopped off is still funny to us. And we know it’s funny to people older and much wiser than we are. It just is.

Already Scheduled for March 2022, series two of Jackie The Ripper will be released! What do the listeners have to look forwards to in the upcoming sequel!?

Well, historically we know that Jack the Ripper committed AT LEAST five murders, and without giving away any spoilers, each season consists of five episodes, and you can bet we’re not doing an episode per murder. The already fleshed out (no pun intended) characters have a long journey ahead of them, and with this being such an ensemble piece, there’s more than meets the eye (ear) on quite a few of them. As I say, no spoilers, as they’re no fun at all, but you’re in for quite a ride.