ITV shares first look of new Yorkshire Ripper drama and reveals all-star cast

ITV has shared some first look images before the release of its new drama about the Yorkshire Ripper, as well as announcing a fantastic line-up of stars cast in the show.

The true crime drama about the hunt for the serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, titled The Long Shadow, will air on ITV1 and ITVX next month.

The seven-part series, described as the ‘definitive depiction of the desperate hunt for serial killer Peter Sutcliffe’, will follow the five-year hunt to catch the man they called the Yorkshire Ripper.

Written by revered screenwriter George Kay, and solely directed by BAFTA-winning director Lewis Arnold, the programme will focus on the lives of the 13 victims and the police officers at the heart of the investigation.

ITV says it holds ‘the victims, their families and the survivors at the heart of this series’ and ‘brings a new perspective to a well-documented story’.

The star-studded cast include award-winning actor Toby Jones will play DCS Dennis Hoban, who initially led the enquiry, with David Morrissey taking the role of DCS George Oldfield, who famously took on the investigation. 

Lee Ingleby will play DCS Jim Hobson, whilst Katherine Kelly plays Emily Jackson with Daniel Mays as her husband, Sydney Jackson and Shaun Thomas as their son, Neil Jackson. 

As well as Jill Halfpenny as Doreen Hill, with Daisy Waterstone as her daughter, Jacqueline Hill.  Jasmine Lee-Jones plays Marcella Claxton, Molly Wright as Donna Deangelo, Liz White as PS Meg Winterburn and Shaun Dooley as DCS Chris Gregg.  

The cast also includes Alexa Davies, Chloe Harris, Stephen Tompkinson, Jack Deam, Michael McElhatton, Adam Long, Ruth Madeley, Dorothy Atkinson, Rob James-Collier, Charley Webb, Steven Waddington and Kris Hitchen.

Meticulously researched and drawing upon the most extensive archive of the investigation, consisting of hundreds of case files, interview transcripts and police reports, with the series also based on Michael Bilton’s critically acclaimed account of the case, Wicked Beyond Belief, published by William Collins.

A synopsis written on the ITV website reads: “One murder has the power to cast a long shadow and this case plunged a whole society into darkness.

“For every victim, there were friends and loved ones. For every police officer, there was the burden of failure and the knowledge that as they failed to find their man, more women continued to suffer.

“The impact on the lives of those who live on after the death of their loved one remains to this day. Those who cannot escape what happened, who must sit with their incomprehensible trauma for decades after, enduring their own life sentences.”

With people today holding to account the institutional foundations that foster misogyny, racism, and violence against women, The Long Shadow will speak to the societal issues of the past whilst highlighting alarming parallels between these terrible crimes and tragic events in our more recent history.