# 55: Hands of the Ripper (1971) – Hammer Horror – Dir. Peter Sasdy – Eric Porter, Angharad Rees & Jane Merrow

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Podcast: [General Witchfinders: The British Horror Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/general-witchfinders-the-british-horror-podcast-3516772)
Published: 2025-03-22T01:00:00+00:00
Episode link: http://www.generalwitchfinders.com/
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5fd77337c08ac45a2c50d003/e/67d9c44c8e0ad1dccd955f1a/media.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
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Duration seconds: 6094

## Resource

Join us for Hammer’s Hands of the Ripper , a 1971 British horror film released as the second half of a double feature with Twins of Evil . Directed by Peter Sasdy, produced by Aida Young, and written by L.W. Davidson from a story by Edward Spencer Shew. Making good use of the large Baker Street set at Pinewood Studios—left over from The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes —the production was denied permission to film its final scenes at St. Paul's Cathedral, so a replica was constructed instead. If the Pritchards' home and staircase look familiar, it’s because Hammer’s ever-resourceful set designers reused elements from The Curse of Frankenstein years earlier (see episode 2 of our podcast for more on that classic). Director Peter Sasdy, who cited Hands of the Ripper as his favourite film, also directed the original Adrian Mole TV series (both The Secret Diary and The Growing Pains ), three episodes of Hammer House of Horror , and two other Hammer features: Countess Dracula and Taste the Blood of Dracula (the latter coming to the podcast later this year, hopefully). Most monumentally, he directed the legendary BBC sci-fi thriller The Stone Tape (definitely check General Witchfinders number 5—our third most popular episode to date!). Eric Porter stars as Doctor Pritchard. Renowned for his work in film, television, and theatre, he famously played Professor Moriarty opposite Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes and Soames Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga . Angharad Rees plays Anna, the daughter of the Ripper. She appeared in Boon (take a drink), starred as Demelza in 28 episodes of Poldark , and, the year after Hands of the Ripper , featured in Under Milk Wood alongside Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, and Elizabeth Taylor. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Dr…

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