Like an episode of Spooks: 1889 – even complete with a Victorian Matthew Macfadyen – this week’s Ripper Street was all Russian spies, double-crossing and last minute bomb defusing. Tinged with its usual cleverness, enjoyably archaic dialogue and touches of poignancy, Episode 6 saw the BBC One crime drama continue on its winning streak.

Set during the 1889 London dock strikes, ‘Tournament of Shadows’ opened with a young Jewish activist by the name of Joshua Bloom getting the heck blown out of him by a suspicious explosion at his lodgings. Reid, (Macfadyen), Drake (Jerome Flynn) and Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) immediately turned up at the scene to investigate.

As per, the ingenious Jackson soon worked out that Bloom had been murdered before the explosion, leading Reid to investigate and – in doing so – coming up against police commissioner Munro (Michael McElhatton), a rather sweaty Russian diplomat, and ultimately the “Special Branch” constable who seemed to be behind the whole business. Meanwhile, Jackson was sent undercover as an anarchist striker to root out the villains and, in the process, was revealed to be lying about his identity. He also got a beating. Standard.

Elsewhere, in a thread involving the anniversary of his daughter’s disappearance, Macfadyen got to prove his acting chops. Steadfastly refusing to give up hope, whilst his wife was determined to move on – even changing out of her mourning weeds into a nice blue frock – Reid found himself seeking comfort in and, lo and behold, sharing a snog with the sad-eyed Miss Goren (Lucy Cohu), patron of the Jewish orphanage that keeps conveniently cropping up. Like none of us saw THAT coming.

Crammed full of dodgy Russian accents, triple agents, convoluted plot twists requiring a shade too much exposition and a rather anti-climactic denouement, ‘Tournament of Shadows’ wasn’t the best evidence of Ripper Street’s capacity for intriguing, cleverly told storylines. In all honesty though, this week the plot came second to what we really wanted to see, more of the three leads banding together to kick crime’s arse. It’s this sort of rough, tough, lads-on-the-hunt-for-bombs swagger that makes the series so watchable.

Ultimately, Ripper Street’s charm lies in the strength of the characters and the impressive, likeable performances from everyone involved. And though the plots aren’t always quite up to scratch, it’s a series that proves making a good crime drama isn’t just about the twists and turns. It’s also about sneaky orphanage snogs.

Aired at 9pm on Sunday 3 February 2013 on BBC One.

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