The context of the series uses fictionalized accounts of the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer who stalked the Yorkshire area of England in the 1970s and 1980s. The name of the series is a reference to the murders and to their location, the historic county of Yorkshire being traditionally divided into three areas known as "ridings."
The television trailers for all three Red Riding episodes bore the tagline "Based on True Events." Nevertheless, none of the characters, nor the murder victims, bear the names of real people and only a few have obvious real-life models.
Red Riding is a British crime drama limited series written by Tony Grisoni and based on the book series of the same name by David Peace. The series comprises the novels Nineteen Seventy-Four (1999), Nineteen Seventy-Seven (2000), Nineteen Eighty (2001) and Nineteen Eighty-Three (2002), and the first, third, and fourth of these novels became three feature-length television episodes, The Red Riding Trilogy: 1974 (2009), The Red Riding Trilogy: 1980 (2009), and The Red Riding Trilogy: 1983 (2009). They aired in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 beginning on 5 March 2009. The three episodes were released theatrically in the United States between 5 and 11 February 2010, by IFC Films.
At the 2010 British Academy Television Awards, the series was nominated for Best Drama Serial while Rebecca Hall won Best Supporting Actress.
Columbia Pictures acquired the rights to adapt the novels and films into a theatrical film. The studio was negotiating with Ridley Scott in October 2009 to direct.