Ripper Street (TV Series)

Heavy Boots (2014)

Clive Russell: Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mimi Morton : [at the door of Jackson's surgery]  I have knocked, I have shouted, but no reply. He's either elsewhere, or he is insensible. My intuition leans to the latter.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : As does mine, miss.

  [He kicks the door open, and politely motions her in] 

• Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : [to Grace]  You, Duchess. Find a man, send him to Queen Anne Street. This here other publican, Grimes, all and everything to tell about his life and work. Have it returned to us here. You, meanwhile, shall go fetch Miss Timpson, she who finds herself immune to insurrection.

  PC Bobby Grace : [after a nod from Drake]  Yes, Chief Inspector.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Mr. Drake, you and I shall take a trip to the Black Eagle Brewery and have a word with Mr. Shipman.

  Det. Insp. Bennet Drake : Yes, sir.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : You, Captain Fancy-Pants. The brew poured down these men - you have the means to find its nature?

  Cpt. Homer Jackson : You ask me that way, I got the means to find out about anything you want.

• [during an autopsy] 

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Same murdering, same profession, same presentation...!

  PC Bobby Grace : If you please, Chief Inspector...?

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : What, boy?

  PC Bobby Grace : Might I be excused but two minutes only?

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Excused? What, do you tend to your toilet, Duchess?

  PC Bobby Grace : No, sir, but it is material to what we now discuss.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : [with heavy sarcasm]  Material, is it?

  Det. Insp. Bennet Drake : Just go.

  [Grace does] 

• Cpt. Homer Jackson : [probing a man's lung with his fingers]  You hear that?

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : [trying not to look]  Mmm.

  Cpt. Homer Jackson : That's crepitation. That there is the sound of air against liquid.

  Det. Insp. Bennet Drake : But he is not sodden. His body shows no signs of being in water.

  Cpt. Homer Jackson : This is true, Inspector, and yet, the man is drowned.

• [Grace returns after a quick search through the Division's records] 

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Now... will you share what it is you consider to be quite so material, that we here have to wait upon your pleasure, as if you are the emissary of the Ottoman Emperor yourself?

  PC Bobby Grace : I... yes, Chief Inspector.

• Cpt. Homer Jackson : [examining a dead body]  You see this here? Now, the French have a name for that: champignon de mousse.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : And why should I care what the bloody French call anything?

  Cpt. Homer Jackson : Now, a man is never too old to learn something.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : A man is never too old to put his boot up an American's arsehole!

• [standing over Reid's bed] 

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : A simple question for you, Dr. Frayn.

  Dr. Amelia Frayn : Yes, Chief Inspector?

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Is this man currently alive?

  Dr. Amelia Frayn : He is not dead, sir.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Then we have clarity.

  Cpt. Homer Jackson : He's shot through the abdomen, he's shot through the head, he shows no signs of consciousness.

  Dr. Amelia Frayn : It is why we have made no attempt to move him elsewhere. We fight the sepsis in his side. The bullet impacted the skull, the swelling there will be intolerable...

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Dr. Frayn... is he dead?

  Dr. Amelia Frayn : He is not, sir.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : You, American. Repeat what now she just told us.

  Cpt. Homer Jackson : He's not dead.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Mr. Drake?

  [no response] 

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Mr. Drake, you look at him. Repeat the doctor's prognosis.

  Det. Insp. Bennet Drake : He is not dead.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : He... is not dead. This man now lies here because his sense of duty is greater than any other he holds. You may argue the toss of such wisdom, but the fact remains. Meantime, Inspector Drake, you will do him the honor of not debauching yourself while his streets burn. You, Yankee, this man yet lives, but there are others now dead awaiting us at Leman Street I would have your renegade eyes upon!

• [Abberline sits outside the Dead Room while Jackson is performing an autopsy] 

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Mr. Reid... he would stay in there whilst such work was performed?

  Det. Insp. Bennet Drake : He had a stomach for such things, sir.

  Ch. Insp. Fred Abberline : Past tense, Inspector. You be careful.