Though critics have taken issue with this, it’s excusable when you consider that this is a series with three male leads that, for the most part, is enjoyable (as I find myself saying most weeks) for the costumes, dialogue and knockabout fun. Every once in a while, of course – as with last week’s heartbreaking, history-fiddling denouement in which the Elephant Man was bumped off by the villainous Jedediah Shine – it does something a little weightier.

Thus, in a week when Sweden decided to implement a film review system based on the Bechdel Test, it was – very fittingly – out with the boys, in with the girls for Ripper Street. For the first time, the Lads and all their Lad Problems were put on the backburner while the series reeled off an episode told almost exclusively from the female perspective. And you know what? It actually worked.

Things kicked off with the kidnapping of an infamously sexist politician. Reid (Matthew Macfadyen) and his men soon worked out that the culprits were a band of women (yay, girl power!), and were just beginning to puzzle over what these angry dames were after when Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) herself was snatched.

With the help of local councillor Jane Cobden (Leanne Best), Reid, Drake (Jerome Flynn) and Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) discovered that those responsible were a band of match girls, seeking compensation for an affliction known as “phossy jaw”.

At the heart of the episode was Susan who, early on, was reminded by Silas Duggan (Frank Harper) that she would have to trade her flesh for financial freedom. As we’ve seen, Susan’s life has always been dependent on the whims of men and this week her interactions with the strong-minded Raine (Neve McIntosh) – leader of the match girls – was an interesting way of challenging the character.

Elsewhere, we caught glimpses of the casual sexism embedded into the world of Victorian London – even our beloved Jackson let himself down by callously labeling one of Susan’s girls a “mewling tart” – and witnessed Drake’s humiliation as his wife Bella (Gillian Saker) and former love Rose (nice to see the return of Charlene McKenna for Series 2) helped to identify a former client.

Essentially this episode worked to highlight that the male characters, despite all their good intentions, often terribly misunderstand and underestimate the women in their lives.

Admittedly the character of Raine felt a little obvious and McIntosh’s performance erred on the side of scenery-chewing, but ultimately the message of “Become Man” was clear: women don’t always need saving by a man. Jackson’s shooting of Raine in a misjudged attempt to rescue his wife worked perfectly as a tragic endpoint and as the credits rolled, we were left wondering whether this would be the last time Susan would allow a man to meddle in her life.

Another week, another sterling effort from Ripper Street. Let’s just hope we see a little more of the ladies getting centre stage from now on.

Aired at 9pm on Monday 11 November 2013 on BBC One.

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