A Modern Day Matthew Hopkins

If you're a fan of Whitechapel, but you haven't yet watched tonight's episode (the second part of Case One of Series Four) then look away now.

Still here? Then on your head be it...

I love Whitechapel. I'm a fan of murder mysteries, but when they come with a packaged as a horror story, that references myths and historical murders, they're just the best. (Hence, I was a fan of Messiah too.)

I enjoyed the first series, with its replaying of the Jack the Ripper murders, wasn't so fussed about the Krays-inspired second series, and then really got into the triple case format of the third series. And now Whitechapel's back with more of the same.

Where the third series tapped into the well of inspiration formed by other London crimes and myths of bogeymen, series four has taken the history of crime as the launching off point of its stories. And it now looks like Whitechapel has gained an over-arching story arc too. I'm also impressed by references to events in previous series, and the dark turn DC Kent's character is taking. Oh, and the over acknowledgement now that although DI Chandler and DS Miles - not to mention police researcher Buchan - always get their man, they never actually get their man, as it were.

So why mention this on a blog about a book about Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witchfinder General? Well, because that's who the Whitechapel coppers have been hunting for the last two weeks - a modern day Matthew Hopkins...

Who was Matthew Hopkins?

Matthew Hopkins is perhaps the most notorious name in the history of English witchcraft, more commonly he was known as “The Witch-Finder General”. Throughout his reign of terror 1645-1646, Hopkins acquired a feared and evil reputation as a ‘fingerman’ (informer), paid by local authorities to commit perjury.

Together with his henchman and fellow ‘Witch-Pricker’ John Sterne, in just 14 months, Hopkins was responsible for the condemnations and executions of some 230 alleged witches, more than all the other witch-hunters that proliferated during the 160-year peak of the country’s witchcraft hysteria.

But who was he really?

To find about more about this alleged serial killer, follow this link.

And so it begins...

I'm off to the Essex-Suffolk borders tomorrow for a few days, with the intention of carrying out some research for this...