I rushed home from work every night that this was shown on TV in 1973 and it started an interest in England and Jack the Ripper that continues to this day. I've heard the streets were clear in England while this show was on as everyone was inside watching the telly. I've been on a couple of JTR walks in London and would love to see the 1973 show again. Watt and Barlow (Z-Cars, Softly, Softly) as a duo are a wonderful device to discuss the background of Victorian London and they seem like old friends who have the same interests that the viewing audience has. Their attempts to solve the crime using modern day police methods add a lot to the show considering there are no fingerprints or DNA to use. A huge amount of information on this case has been made public in the 30 some years since this show was made, but as the case has never been satisfactorily resolved some of the proposed solutions and suspects are still as good as any. The old time look of the show lent an air to it that doesn't appear in most of the other JTR shows. UPDATE: 8-13-07. I just got a copy of this show from England. It's as good as I remember, keeping in mind some of the theories have been pretty well discredited over the last 30 some years.
