The long shadow

I was 17 when the first murder victim was killed and 22 when that monster was finally caught. Living in the area where these events happened was terrifying throughout that time of going at night with friends but always being aware that he could be the man walking near you.

This drama series is blessed with some excellent British character actors, and is sympathetic to the women and girls who were slaughtered by that piece of scum who I won't name. These events are still so entrenched in my memories that the names of the victims and the police officers investigating the crimes have never left me. We have to remember that things were very different then and with no DNA and no centralised police computer system, the work involved for the police was almost insurmountable.

I hope that the victims' families will feel that this series has been made to make us see them as people rather than just names, photos and, sadly, descriptions in the media at the time. The excellent cast and writers, in fact everyone involved, were apparently keen to achieve that.

A superb addition to the existing ripper dramas and documentaries as this shows a new perspective, as it features back stories for the victims, an area that has been neglected, and provides a lot of details which are new to me. It also shows the incompetence and sexism of the police as well as the difficulties and limits of their capabilities. For example the desperation of sitting in cars taking registrations takes me back as I was interviewed at the time (having innocently driven though the areas of interest). It was a harrowing time for everybody who lived in the area and this is depicted well.

I lived in Shipley, Bradford during this, because I worked as an engineer and I banked in Shipley I was interviewed by the police during this investigation. I knew Peter Sutcliffe's brother Carl, I knew his Employer Willy Clarke. I don't know whether I ever met Peter Sutcliffe because he looked like 100's of guys back in the 70's. This series is very complimentary on the level of gross ineptitude and incompetence by the West Yorkshire police at this time. They were literally beyond useless during the whole of this investigation. This series highlights the plight of the victims which is an interesting perspective never really touched on before. It also highlights the level of prejudice and misogyny in police ranks waged against women of what was seen to be low moral character. The Yorkshire Ripper was more prolific than the Whitechapel murders in 1889, he was caught by mere chance by vigilant police officers in Sheffield , if this hadn't have happened, he might never have been caught.

As a former police officer who was working at the time the Yorkshire Ripper was committing his horrendous crimes my husband and I were left feeling so angry at the way some West Yorkshire police dealt with the women who were his victims. Particularly Marcella. I don't believe we dealt with victims in such a way in Hampshire. Although it was a totally different time there was no excuse. This drama pulls no punches in showing just how ignorant these male officers were. The arrogance of senior officers in their single minded pursuit of Wearside Jack. Thank goodness we now have computerised systems that would deal with a complicated case more efficiently. A shocking drama that shows multiple sides of this awful crime spree.

This program is very well made, honest, heartbreaking & very important. I saw I review moaning about why itvx are making so many crime shows. I don't think this is the place for that discussion as this is meant to review a particular program. But saying that, I would like to say that I felt this program wasn't shallow or following the true crime popularity. I believe this was incredibly respectful & highlighted the catastrophic mistakes made when misogyny is rife, when victims aren't seen as a human being. This is a message about terrible mistakes made that if learnt from, can stop something like this happening again. Help the process for survivors. Help to make change. TV used in this way is incredibly powerful. Itvx did a wonderful job making this. The acting is incredible, the writing important & tone perfect.