ITV Axe Whitechapel

Well this is a kick in the teeth.

ITV have reportedly axed superb horror/crime series Whitechapel after four seasons.

The news came from Rupert Penry-Jones over Twitter yesterday, as he said "Sorry to be the bearer of bad news everyone but ITV don't want any more Whitechapel. That's all folks x".

Whitechapel has been a jewel in the ITV drama crown for four seasons. Starting off as a mini-series about a copycat of Jack The Ripper, the show quickly established itself as one of the most original, gritty, and pschologically terrifying crime shows in recent memory.

A brief dip in quality for the second season aside, where the writers mistakenly chose to follow up on the "copycat" angle instead of the "horror atmosphere" angle, Whitechapel has been the closest thing we've had to "Se7en: The Series", and has been responsible for more than one sleepless night in the Geekin'  Out household.

Ah well, at least ITV is continuing to produce such high quality and thought provoing television as The Only Way Is Essex, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! and Peter Andre: My Life, so not all is lost...

Whitechapel also starred Phil Davis and Steve Pemberton. All four seasons are available on DVD now.