The Long Shadow

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.

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.

The real life story of one of Britain's most notorious killers, Peter Sutcliffe, who evaded capture for many years, taunting The Detectives on the case.

I was worried by two things, one, that at seven episodes long, that it would lag, and feel too padded, and secondly, that they'd add in current attitudes and mindsets into occurrences from the 1970's, a very different time.

Episode one apart, I think they got the tone and attitudes spot on, we see the sexism and racism. It's a very good adaptation, it feels like a fairly authentic telling of the story, I didn't think they'd sensationalised it, or overdone it, the right mix of drama and story.

It gets better as it progresses, I didn't particularly care for episode one, but it definitely ends better than it started. It highlights the real failings with the investigation.

I like that it focuses more so on the investigation itself, rather than Sutcliffe himself, we actually see surprisingly very little of him.

Production values are terrific, they got the details spot on, it looks and feels very authentic, great fashions, sets and cars, the team nailed it.

It boasts a great cast, British talent galore, the likes of Toby Jones, David Morrissey, Liz White and Mark Jordon, they're all on point.

I still can't believe he got away with this for so many years.

8/10.

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.

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.