The Long Shadow - ITV1 - Monday September 25th at 9pm

[Southeastdweller]

Anyone else looking forward to watching this seven part drama?

https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/the-long-shadow-release-date-newsupdate/

I've just finished it. I thought it was really good but sort of wish they had just glossed over Yvonne as they did some of the other victims rather than creating the Donna character, it felt jarring to me that all of the victims were real but one.

I also felt like the ending was a bit rushed, I wanted to see a bit more of Sutcliffe. I know they probably didn't want to sensationalise him as a person, but I thought we could have at least heard more about the inquest than we did. The whole 2005 scene about Wearside Jack seemed a bit unnecessary and an odd ending given he wasn't the central figure in the story. Could have just been explained in the picture cards showing the real life people at the end.

Overall though, it was really good.

But I do believe for the police wearside Jack was important to the police and was huge failing as there was absolutely no evidence to connect him and they were obsessed .

Yeah totally, but they'd already talked about it a lot. It seemed odd to me to end with a scene entirely about who he was and have Wilma's son, who's mum was killed long before he was on the scene, be so bothered by him. Possibly accurate but odd scripting.

I thought it was odd that they didn't mention anything about the £5.00 note found in Jean Jordan's handbag as that was a pivotal part of the investigation and a missed opportunity to catch Sutcliffe.

Yes, that was a strange omission. Then again, his wife gave him alibi’s for the nights he murdered Jean Jordan and went back to find the note (and mutilate her corpse). So maybe as his wife is still alive, the writer didn’t want to go too deep into the Jean Jordan story in case it opens a can of worms.

I’ve watched it all. I thought it was excellent.
It focused on the victims rather than the gruesome things Sutcliffe did.
It also portrayed the police accurately which was good.
It made me very angry with the way in which the victims were treated.
The attitude of those in charge was disgusting.
Very well executed. Great performances by the cast.

I started out feeling sympathetic to the police as they didn't have cctv or computer databases like nowadays. However their rigid thinking and dismissive attitude towards what the victims were telling them was beyond incompetence.

I couldn't help but think about the fact that there hasn't been a serial killer/manhunt situation in my lifetime (30ish years) that I can think of, besides cases where the killer hid their tracks and made it look like natural causes. I guess that's a solid sign of how much policing has improved!

Ipswich?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipswich_serial_murders

Levi Bellfield? I know someone who worked on the case and the police made a mistake. They'd looked at the wrong day's cctv. When someone checked it properly, they saw Bellfield tailing a bus in his white van. If they'd have seen it the first time, they'd have caught and he would have had the chance to kill a young French woman. The lead detective actually went to France and apologised. That takes class.

Also Peter Tobin, and Robert Napper

Fair enough, I've heard of Levi Bellfield because of recent coverage but don't remember any of the others, might have been too young!

Colin Pitchfork
I highly recommend this programme:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CodeoffaKiller

Fred and Rose West came to light in the 90s but were active for years and years. Before everyone had a mobile some young women just disappeared and the police didn’t seem to think much of it.

Levi Bellfield - yes, he just went around hitting women over the head with a hammer around South West London and the police didn’t seem to see a link.

In the Ipswich case it all happened very quickly over a few days.

There was Joanna Dennehy who killed three men in a ten day spree.

Then there are things like the IS terror attacks where a lot of people were killed or injured very quickly at random.

And Lucy Letby, Harold Shipman - medical killers.

We don’t know if there are other serial killers out there who just haven’t been caught yet because people do still go missing.

Computers and DNA have made catching people easier but there are still a lot of unsolved cases. At least it’s not a case of knowing there is someone out there regularly attacking women and the police simply saying don’t go out in the dark - pretty impossible for most of us.

What discerns Sutcliffe from every serial killer I’ve heard of is that over a prolonged period (five years) the police were aware of him as a possible suspect, interviewing him nine times. I have zero sympathy and respect for the WYP in general at that time, because they fucked up numerous times catching that monster.

I thought it was very well done. Episode 6 had me in tears.

My dad was still living in Sunderland at the time and was one of the many (thousands?) men in the area who were questioned by the police and asked to provide handwriting samples. The obsession with and tunnel vision they got over Wearside Jack was ludicrous. The incompetence of the men in charge, good grief.

I've just finished it, what a great TV series, best I've watched in ages and I remember the news stories and relief when he was charged.

I'm on episode 3. Every time the police are talking to the girls it's awful, so dismissive and insulting. I'm furious on their behalf.

I really liked the fact we didn’t see much of Sutcliffe and it didn’t dwell on him or even his confession. This was about the victims and how they were let down by the police.

I did find the scene with Wilma’s son somewhat odd (while appreciating what it said about changing police attitudes to those left behind after awful crimes like this). Maybe Richard McCann is on record as having said that about the Wearside Jack hoaxer, grief does funny things to us, but it would have made more sense timing-wise if it had been someone like Jacqueline’s parents or a relative of one of the other later, post-tape victims who said it.

I’ve watched the first episode.

I was a student in Leeds in the 80’s but after he was caught.

The university provided a woman’s minibus from the university union and drop us off outside our doors. I think it ran every 15 minutes till around midnight. I think there was a small fee but can’t remember.

The fear was still there in case they hadn’t caught the right man.

Apparently the detective in charge, Oldfield, refused to believe that Peter Sutcliffe was the Yorkshire Ripper! Even after Sutcliffe confessed. He apparently did not attend the trial either claiming South Yorkshire police had got the wrong man!

That poor taxi driver. What were they thinking interviewing him in his pjs without legal representation. I know forensics would have been next to useless in those days but I had no idea how crap the police were.

I'm finding the 'day number ....' written on various inanimate objects a bit jarring and not quite inkeeping with the rest of it.

Did that taxi driver exist or is he a fictitious character? So much of what happens in this series seems incredible!

I only twigged in the last episode that the numbers weren't actually there 😂 I'd only noticed them on the boards they had up in the police station and just assumed they were actually writing down how many days the case had gone on.

But yes I agree, not quite in keeping with the rest of the show.

My blood ran cold when they showed the last girl who was murdered. I walked through Headingley after dark near where she was murdered the following day. I hadn't heard the news as I had left the house before the 6 oclock news.

My mum rang me and said that my dad wanted me to come home (I was a student at the time).

It was a scary time for every female.

@Southeastdweller So much of what happens in this series seems incredible!

It does doesn’t it. If it were a fictitious drama it would be criticised for being silly and too far-fetched.

I also found the days written on things jarring.

It was a scary time for every female

I think episode 6 captures that sense of fear so well. And unfortunately it’s still entirely relatable today. When the man approached the woman to tell her she’d dropped her keys my heart was in my mouth. The way she freezes up and doesn’t know what to do, or what could be about to happen. I’ve experienced that feeling quite a few times in my life. Most recently when I was walking home alone in the dark on a deserted street and a man approached me ‘for a light’. Thankfully that’s all he actually seemed to want (I didn’t have one) but for a few moments I couldn’t breathe.