This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper

I have watched many of the available documentaries about the Yorkshire Ripper case and have read two books on the subject. So I feel that I know quite a bit about the factual details. This film, though a dramatization of the events, is highly accurate and does not drift far from the known facts, something that I really appreciated, as sometimes film producers and script writers like to interject bits of their own in order to give a film a more artistic touch. You'll find precious little of that here and I was grateful for that.

This film focuses heavily on the role that Assistant Chief Constable George Oldfield of the West Yorkshire Police played in finding and arresting Peter Sutcliffe, a serial killer responsible for 13 murders that spanned over a five year period. It portrays Oldfield as a man so deeply immersed in the case that his health was affected, likely leading to his death at age 61.

If you like to be submerged deep in the details of a massive police investigation, then there is much to please you in this film. I really appreciated how the film showed the multitude of methods that were used in order to try to identify and ultimately catch the killer. (At times, the massive volume of data accumulated threatened to derail the case, which demonstrated just how complex and difficult this crime was to solve).

There is a lot of gritty realism in this film, as we watch the inner workings of the police and that of the ordinary people who were victims of the killer.

The acting is top-notch and the settings are very realistic.

At three hours long, the film is definitely a long watch, but I actually found myself not wanting the movie to end.

ITV managed to scoop itself with this two part drama by broadcasting a brilliant two part documentary on the case a month or two earlier, and one which gained far more recognition at the BAFTAs.

There's something pleasantly old-fashioned about this attempt at telling a very simple but tragic story: the (rather tacky) music picking up when people walk down corridors after making key discoveries, the lack of big name actors and so on, but it just feels rather flat. The period detail is very iffy: why does everyone own brand new 1979 model televisions? A small point but irritating. The drama also gets in a bit of a mess by beginning with the death of Jayne MacDonald, the first victim who wasn't a prostitute and the first one that really provoked much interest from the uncaring public and press. Yet despite the fact that after this it was acknowledged that no-one was safe, characters constantly reassure people that "he only kills pros...". While this is partly an attempt to illustrate police incomptentence, it seems bizarre a policeman would say that when he's just killed two women who aren't. The incident when the Geordie hoaxer telephoned the police to admit he was a hoaxer isn't included either, and after all the build up, it was probably a mistake to finally show Sutcliffe at all, as the shadowy figure that hovers in the background is very effective.

I wasn't that keen on Armstrong's performance, but I feel a lot of this is the fault of the writing. The dioalogue feels very clichéd in places and determined to not point any fingers of blame at anyone.

This is Personal is very watchable but far too innocuous. It was a shocking case and the is very little sympathy, fear or anger on display here.

This one will stick with you long after viewing. A gritty, grimy, chillingly real show. It kind of gave me Stendhal Syndrome, and I felt like I was an active participant hunting for the vile Ripper himself. Speaking of, the bloke that plays the aforesaid Ripper could pass for Sutcliffe's doppelganger. Intense, grisly closeups of the carnage are balanced by sublime frames that could pass for pastoral paintings. The slate grey skies and tragic tooth to head ratios really drive the sadness home with the force of a ball-peen hammer. An early, well ahead of its time, "Me Too" movement abounds. Misogyny and misandry in equally potent doses. Alun Armstrong gives one of the most visceral performances of all-time. A masterclass in acting by him. The series truly captures the paralyzing fear, hysteria and mayhem that seized England during the other Ripper's six year reign of terror. This one is as real as it gets. Other show runners should take copious notes.

It's amazing and horrible that all of this actually really happened. But even so the story remains highly unrealistic especially towards the ending, I just couldn't believe how dumb and stupid the police were at the ending! Yes, there are some tense and good moments but not as many as dumb and unrealistic moments.

The story also uses a bit too many unneeded sideline stories about some of the main characters. It's uninteresting and distracting and even dumb at times.

The only reason why this is a watchable mini-series is because of Alun Armstrong that is fantastic as always in roles like these.

It really isn't THAT bad but there most certainly are better and more interesting English detectives out there to watch.

5/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

The whole point of why the Police are made to look clueless is because I'm afraid that is exactly what happened. If you did not know about the case you would think the same way as Boba Fett, in that its that ridiculous it cannot be true. Unfortunately all the major incidents and mistakes made by the Police portrayed in this 2 part series actually did happen. We should not forget that if the Ripper was to have practised his evil ways the year 2000 he would have been caught extremely quickly with all the advances in modern technology.

This is the late 1970s. No DNA testing, No Super Computers, No CCTV to name but a few.

Alan Armstrong gives an absolutely first class performance of George Oldfield and steals the show.

We are shown how much pressure the West Yorkshire Police force were under and how they were unable to deal with an investigation of such evil magnitude.

In hindsight it is very easy to criticise the Police however the programme takes great detail in explaining how they were sidetracked by the hoax letters and tapes which allowed Sutcliffe to continue for another 3 years and how in the end he was caught not by their great detective work but by pure chance.

If you read in detail about the Ripper case and the Police enquiry into it, some of the mishandling by The Police was astounding. If you don't know a little about the case it's easy to imagine its all fiction.

I think this programme is excellent viewing for anyone who is unaware of the case and offers an insight into the difficulties they had in the late 1970s.

A bit more detail could have went into the numerous alibis given for her husband by Sonia Sutcliffe as in my opinion this was the other reason, along with the tape, for him eluding capture for so long.