Stoke-on-Trent is not the sort of place you’d readily associate with Jack the Ripper and yet recently it became the scene of the murder of the woman who, many believe, was the last of his victims, Mary Kelly.
Now, before the residents of the potteries rush out in panic in the belief that, after an absence of over 120 years, Jack has returned to stalk the five towns, fear not. It’s all in the name of a new film on the ripper murders that was recently shooting a scene at a former potbank in Longton, Stoke-On-Trent.
The former Phoenix Works, near King Street in Longton, was recently transformed into a little slice of the East End of London and became Miller’s Court for a late night shoot on the new film that looks at the last few hours in the life of Mary Kelly, the final, and most enigmatic, of Jack the Ripper’s victims.
The film, which is based on a short-story called “Miller’s Court”, tells the story of Mary Kelly’s last few hours when she was being stalked by the Ripper through the streets of the East End. The story is the work of local writer and actor Steven Beattie, and the film stars Damen Lewis, Kris Walker and Jade Hammond, who plays the role of Mary Kelly. The location was chosen because it bears an uncanny resemblance to Miller’s Court itself.
They are hoping to raise the £5,000 necessary to fund the production by Crowd-funding, whereby people donate money to fund the production, in return for credits and the chance to meet cast members.