On 25th September 1888, a letter, addressed to “The Boss”, arrived at the Central News Agency – an organisation which syndicated news stories across the world.

It claimed to come from the most famous serial killer in history and, for the first time, revealed a name that would become legendary – ‘Jack the Ripper’.

Thanks to his chilling nickname, ‘Jack the Ripper’ was the first serial killer to cause a media sensation when he terrorised the streets of East London back in 1888.

In this programme, former-tabloid editor, Kelvin Mackenzie re-examines the Ripper murders, uncovers startling documentary evidence and identifies a new set of suspects; the crooked journalists who faked evidence, printed fantasy and mislead the police investigation, all to keep the Ripper murders on their front pages.

The Ripper murders coincided with mass literacy and the birth of popular journalism – they were manna from heaven for a new breed of racy and sensational daily papers.

As a former red-top Editor, Kelvin is familiar with the adage, ‘If it bleeds in leads’, but even he is astounded by the lengths the great-grandfathers of tabloid journalism were prepared to go to boost their circulation figures.

Re-examining the case with the help of historians, current newspaper journalists, a top forensic pathologist and a graphologist, Kelvin separates the shocking facts from the newspaper fiction; and, with the help of historian Dr Andrew Cook, nails for the first time ever the man who invented “Jack The Ripper”.