Shadowy Alleyways, Cryptic Clues, and a Conspiracy Buried Deep: Kemp’s Detective Verney Faces Pagan Rituals and Ripper Ghosts in Dr. Plague – Fans Call It His Most Explosive Transformation in Years
Martin Kemp is stepping into his darkest role yet – and the buzz is ferocious. The 63-year-old EastEnders legend and Spandau Ballet frontman is set to play Detective John Verney in Dr. Plague, an eight-part Sky Max thriller that’s already being hailed as the most terrifying London-set saga of the decade. From shadowy alleyways and cryptic clues to ritualistic crime scenes that echo Jack the Ripper’s ghosts, the series follows Verney, a jaded Scotland Yard inspector dragged into the murkiest corners of the city while tracking a sadistic serial killer whose murders are orchestrated by a secret death cult. But the case takes a far more terrifying turn when Verney uncovers a twisted web of pagan rituals traced back to the Ripper legend itself – a conspiracy buried so deep it threatens to swallow him whole. If you thought you’d seen every take on London’s darkest history… think again. This one looks seriously creepy.
Created by Killing Eve scribe Laura Neal and directed by The Salisbury Poisonings‘ Saul Metzstein, Dr. Plague reimagines the Ripper mythology through a modern lens of occult horror and institutional corruption. Kemp’s Verney, a chain-smoking widower haunted by his wife’s unsolved Ripper-tourist murder, stumbles upon the first victim: a young doctor eviscerated in Whitechapel with surgical precision, organs arranged in a pentagram invoking 1888. “It’s not random – it’s a calling card,” Verney growls in the trailer, his rumpled coat and haunted eyes evoking Gene Hunt from Life on Mars with a Ripper’s edge. As bodies pile up – throats slit in Moorish arches, hearts carved with alchemical symbols – Verney infiltrates the cult, a clandestine society of elite professionals (doctors, lawyers, occultists) who believe resurrecting the Ripper’s “essence” will “purify” modern London.
Kemp’s Verney is a revelation – a man whose gruff exterior cracks to reveal profound vulnerability, his Cockney growl delivering lines like “The Ripper didn’t die – he evolved” with chilling gravitas. “John’s not a hero; he’s a ghost hunting ghosts,” Kemp told Radio Times at the London premiere. The ensemble is stellar: Cush Jumbo (The Good Fight) as Verney’s sharp-tongued partner DI Lena Cross, a forensic psychologist with her own Ripper trauma; Tom Goodman-Hill (The English) as the cult’s enigmatic leader, a Harley Street surgeon with Ripper bloodline claims; and rising star Ambika Mod (One Day) as Verney’s estranged daughter, drawn into the occult web. Filmed in atmospheric East End locations doubling for 1888, the visuals – lensed by The Power of the Dog‘s Ari Wegner – blend gaslit fog with neon underbelly, while Jóhann Jóhannsson’s brooding score (his final work) pulses with ritual dread.
What elevates Dr. Plague is its fusion of history and horror. Neal draws from Ripper lore – the “canonical five” murders – to craft a cult that views Saucy Jack as a “sacred surgeon” purging society’s “impurities.” Verney’s investigation unearths Victorian archives linking modern victims to Ripper descendants, blurring past and present in hallucinatory sequences where Kemp’s Verney confronts his wife’s spectral killer.
Critics are obsessed. The Guardian awarded five stars: “Kemp channels Ripper’s ghosts with terrifying poise – a modern horror classic.” Variety called it “the decade’s creepiest London tale – shadowy, smart, and shiver-inducing.” On Sky Max, it’s No. 1 with 18 million streams in week one, outpacing The Jetty. Fans rave: “Episode 3’s ritual? Nightmare fuel – couldn’t sleep.”
Dr. Plague isn’t just a thriller – it’s a resurrection. As Verney intones in the finale, “The Ripper’s blade never dulled – it just waited.” Streaming now on Sky Max. London’s shadows await.
